


Scales

by LouiseC



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-11 06:35:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 60,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1169836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouiseC/pseuds/LouiseC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fresh faced SEAL, Steve McGarrett finds an intriguing rock during his time over in... Well he can't say where. It was hot, let's leave it at that. When he sends the rock home to his dad in an effort to reach out, he has no idea the changes one simple rock will bring to his life twenty years later. When it hatches...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo some idiot accidentally deleted her story instead of deleting a duplicated chapter. Oops. 
> 
> I am so so sad to have lost all your lovely kudos and comments from the story, but I still have them all in my email inbox.D I will resist the urge to DM them all to you so you can repost them :P Silver lining is that you can all kudos the story again :
> 
> Will get the chapters all back up in the next 2 nights and continue onwards from there. We were up to chapter 22 when chapter 23 ate it all up like a dragon (or Danny) with a bag of marshmallows... 
> 
> Anyone who has DL (Not that you would a WIP) will need to delete the copy they already have as any links will be broken. Also bookmarks/tabs external to A03 will need updating. I am so sorry for the trouble. 
> 
> Until then, 'park it' !

Oahu. 2013

“You realize I don’t have anything valuable to leave to you, right?” 

Steve glances at his yelling partner before swerving around a slow moving hatchback. “What?” 

“If I die,” Danny grips tighter to the door handle. “If you run into the back of a cement truck and I die a horrible death in a pile of twisted Camaro, I a) have nothing of value and b) wouldn’t leave it to you anyway because it would be your fault I was dead and leaving you things would only seem like tacit approval for this type of behavior.”

“Wouldn’t I be dead too?” He turns sharply to try and get ahead of the vehicle they are pursuing and cut it off at the next intersection. Horns blare and Steve glares at the oncoming traffic.

“One way, Steven!” Danny doesn’t know whether to call his life insurance company or bang his head on the dashboard. “People move aside when they hear the sirens but they don’t expect to see an unmarked police car careening up a one way street the _wrong way_. It’s like you get joy out of…” As quick as the rant started, it ends and Danny switches back into pursuit mode. “Over there,” he points, “He turned down that alley.”

“That comes out a block from the highway.” Steve frowns and quickly looks around at the other cars before pulling up the handbrake, yanking the steering wheel hard to the right and turning the car almost on the spot. “Hold on, Danno.”

“I’ve been holding on for the whole time I’ve known you,” Danny scowls and his instincts, finely honed by years of experience, lead him to tighten his seatbelt. 

Seconds later, the car bounces out the other end of the alley, their speed almost bottoming it out on the uneven roadway. “Yup, he’s headed for the highway,” Danny confirms and Steve changes lanes, presses down on the accelerator and follows. 

“Traffic should be pretty light this time of afternoon so we’ll get them once we’re out there.” Steve, for all his seemingly harebrained schemes, does not believe in collateral damage. Fewer cars means they can keep eyes on the target but also, and more importantly, it means less chance of their high-speed chase ending in a pileup on the H1. 

“You know, for a car that has flower power crap painted all over it that hunk of junk’s got some unexpected speed. Oh no,” Danny holds up a finger, “You concentrate on driving, I do not need a run down on the engine upgrades they probably did.”

“We’ll need that information for the police report.”

“Shut up.”

Steve just grins and speeds up, flashing past the cars moving out of their way and steadily gaining on the suspects. He’s almost at the point where he’s ready to overtake and pull ahead to block them in with the Camaro when a large, dark shadow flits quickly across the windshield. 

“No,” Steve groans. 

“I thought he understood!” Danny really does want to bang his head on the dashboard this time. “I thought you had him convinced that he needed to stay out of this and that he should keep to the house and yard today.”

Steve shrugs and eases back off the accelerator. “Guess he thought differently.”

Danny sighs. He hates paperwork at the best of times. Sure, he does it and he does it accurately and in a timely manner, but nobody actually _likes_ the stuff. What he really hates are the ‘special’ forms the DA had the state’s lawyers draw up, just for 5-0, just for when this happens. When he first started, he’d thought explaining away the tactics Steve was partial to caused him too much extra work. This, now, is ten times worse.

They’re a safe distance behind the suspects now and just as well because in a split second they go from 90 miles an hour to slamming on their breaks and even with the gap he’s built up, Steve taps on the break to slow down and turn out of the way. The other car leaves two parallel skid lines in its wake.

“This is bad. This is very, very bad.” Danny bends across to look at the now stopped vehicle. 

“Maybe not,” Steve looks hopeful. “He might just scare them a bit. It might make things go faster when we get them back to the interrogation room.”

“Just so long as he doesn’t set the car on…”

A flash of orange light and a ring of flames appear around the front half of the vehicle, blocking the suspects inside and preventing their escape by car or by foot.

“… Fire. Great.”

“Well to be fair the car isn’t actually _on fire_ ,” Steve defends. 

Unbuckling, Danny pops the trunk with the spare keys in his own pocket (and tries not to think too hard about the fact that the set he carries are considered the ‘spares’) and lets out a put upon sigh. “I’ll get the extinguisher, you go make sure they don’t try anything stupid.”

“You mean other than robbing stores at gunpoint, mocking 5-0, resisting arrest and leading the police on a high speed chase through downtown Honolulu?”

“Right,” Danny nods. “I mean other than that. And deal with,” he waves his arm vaguely indicating the cause of the other car’s abrupt stop.

“Will do.” Steve puts on his best You Are In So Much Trouble, Kiddo face and strides across the empty lane between the two cars. He hears the muttering of onlookers and there is a semicircle of disarray where the cars behind them have pulled to a stop. It’s going to be a busy hour on Twitter for the witnesses which means the governor will be on his ass by dinner time.

“You are in so much trouble!” Steve points angrily in the happy and slightly smug face. The bright, accomplished, almost gecko colored green sheen fades to grey, followed by a sniff and a head hanging sadly. “It’s not going to work, buddy. Go home,” He commands.

He braces against the rush of air and watches as the shadow passes back the way it came. He does feel kind of guilty but the recent spate of boundary pushing needs to stop. He wishes, not for the first time, that there were books for this but aside from that one movie that Grace loves and a bunch of other kid’s books, there really isn’t much help out there.

“Hey!” The suspects shout and bang from inside their car. “Hey get us out of here!”

Danny approaches with the fire extinguisher and something else tucked under his arm. He’s scowling which, Steve supposes, really isn’t all that surprising. “Couldn’t get the pin out so I had to get the spare out of the wheel compartment. That is after I unloaded half a ton of spare ammo and what I am really hoping is not a disassembled, homemade surveillance drone. You need to clean out my car my friend.

“Also, I brought the heat resistant blanket so we can open the door.” This he throws at Steve’s head but the bastard catches it easily before it hits him. With a flourish, Danny releases the pin of the extinguisher and starts sweeping the white substance across the base of the flames. 

Taking their time, they put out enough to open the driver’s door and the suspects tumble out, still swearing. 

“I told you we should have listened to Shorty,” the taller one shouts to the other. “But no. You had to try. ‘ _Don’t come to Hawaii_ ’ he said. ‘ _Nobody’s getting a foothold there lately_ ’. No wonder. The cops have a fucking dragon!”

“You think the dragon’s bad, you should meet our rookie,” Steve grins and looks at his partner. “Book ‘em, Danno.”

“You just had to do it, didn’t you?” Danny pulls the cuffs out and waves at the suspects. “Okay, turn around you lunkheads. You both have the right to remain silent…”

Steve picks up the extinguisher and sets to work on the rest of the ring of flames. “Oh and Danny?” 

“What?”

“It would have been a _concrete_ truck.”

 

* * *

*CLASSIFIED LOCATION* 2005

Steve McGarrett is kind of a dork. He knows that he is, he can accept that his enjoyment of science goes beyond the immediately necessary skills for the Navy. His curiosity goes further than physics and navigation and it always has. He also loves the earth sciences, geology, a bit of biology. It’s been this way since school when he and his dad would hike into the mountains, poking about in the streams, overturning rocks to watch the wildlife underneath. 

On fine days when the weather forecast was good and there hadn’t been too much rain overnight to make the tracks dangerously slippery, they’d keep going up and up. Sometimes they’d lose the trails amongst the dense undergrowth until they eventually breached the tree line and made it to the rocky summits. As Steve got older, it became a race and the first year that he got there first felt like winning an Olympic medal. 

When they were up there, it was just the two of them and the rest of the world fell away beneath the spread of the canopy. Up there, homework and football and girl troubles didn’t follow and in a time before cell phones, a day off meant just that. His Dad never once got called in when they were hiking. 

When they found a good spot, they’d usually break for a snack and then collect different rocks, unless they were in a national park, then Steve would take photos. When they got home, he would carefully catalogue them and put them in the big old trunk with the rest of their samples. Around the time Steve turned twelve, the box got so heavy that Jack even threw his back out hauling it around one too many times. After that, they had to move it out of Steve’s room and keep it under the stairs. That way they could drag it out by the handle when they needed to. 

Steve also liked the rocks that weren’t anything special but had interesting shapes. He’d wonder how long it lay in that particular place before he found it, often trying to piece the chunks of basalt back together in his mind and imagining what it looked like hundreds and thousands of years ago. 

It wasn’t just the mountain rocks he loved. He used to start out his weekends surfing with his buddies, only to wander away to explore the rocky outcrops along the shore. More than once he’d found himself stuck when the tide came in and had to wait it out, perched safely above the waves with only a few crabs for company. He enjoyed the peace, only the crashing water to fill his mind instead of worries about his grades. After his mother died, he went more often so he could drown out his father’s sullen moods and wash away the lost looks of his little sister. 

Even now, thousands of miles from home, he uses his rockhounding as an excuse to escape. Whenever they have down time and it is safe to move away from the camp alone, he pokes about the dunes. It’s so different to home, so varied are the findings. There are rocks of different colors and composition, like a whole other world from the volcanic islands he knew growing up. His teammates give him so much shit for it but he knows that it’s just part of the way the guys are. And besides he can out swim all of them and take most of them in a fight so they don’t dare take the ribbing too far. 

On this particular day he has a few spare minutes to himself while they wait for recon and decide if they have enough to go ahead with their mission. He goes around behind the mess and out into the cleared field to look through the pile of dirt next to the freshly dug head. He’d heard the grunts complaining yesterday about how rocky the ground was so Steve is glad he doesn’t have to actually dig today. He crouches to his knees and uses a stick to move the dirt about, blowing sand off interesting looking pieces and rubbing them on his shirt. 

He finds mostly the same thing as always out here and his time is just about up when something catches his eye. It’s larger than the other rocks in the pile or any other rock he’s found around camp. Thousands of years of unrelenting desert sand and wind have worn most loose pieces down into jagged chunks. This one is about the size of a small coconut and dark in color with a grey sheen where he rubs it clean. It’s perfectly round and smooth in his hands. 

He carefully blows the grains away from around the side then licks his thumb, reaching out to wet the rock to see if water changes the color. When his skin touches it, he pulls his arm back in surprise. It doesn’t feel like any rock he’s found before either. Frowning, he picks it up and finds it to be much lighter than one would expect for a rock of this size, much like a pumice stone. He feels the need to hold it gently, as if it is fragile.

“Yo, Smooth Dog.”

He jumps at the intrusion and turns to see the rest of his team standing over by the mess, watching him. He stands, still holding the rock, and shakes his legs to get the sand off. 

“Hey. We up?” he asks walking over to them.

Jenkins shakes his head. “Nah. The recon was no good so it’s been scrubbed for now. We just got twelve-hour passes though. We’re going into town for a bit.” 

“Oh sure, give me ten minutes?” Steve asks, answering the implied invitation from his friends. 

They shrug. “Sure. Go put your little rock away.”

Steve frowns at his hands, the stone still airy light in his fingertips. “There’s something really weird about this one.” He holds it out to them even though he knows they’ll laugh. They all decline a closer look.

 

“No, really, feel it,” Steve insists. “It's all leathery. Almost like a football. It doesn't feel like any rock I've ever seen."

"I’m not touching your leathery balls, McGarrett,” Bullfrog snorts. “You want to waste your R&R prancing around the minefields collecting daisies that's your call. We're going into town to hit the bar. You coming with us or you going to stay here, fondling your precious stones?"

He goes with them of course but while they’re in town he buys a sturdy box and some bubble wrap. Later he packs the rock up carefully, wraps it and neatly addresses it to the house in Pi’ikoi Street. He knows his dad will like it and he includes a note asking him if he can do some research and find out what type it is. Steve’s more than curious but he also has a deeper motive. The last letters he’s got from home, his Dad sounded distracted like his writing was an afterthought. He knows that the HPD has been not so subtly suggesting retirement for months now but the detective wants to keep going for a few more years. It’s a battle Steve fears he will lose.

The day after he drops the package with the base post office, all hell breaks loose in a nearby hotspot province. Steve’s SEAL team is rapid deployed. He never returns to this particular station again but his package makes its way to Honolulu, long forgotten by its sender.


	2. Chapter 2

Oahu, early 2013

Grace knows her friends think it's odd that she's allowed to spend her weekends going through her dad's partner's belongings. Its certainly not how other twelve year olds choose to pass the time in this sunny and exciting place. But to Grace, there’s nothing better than discovering things that have been long forgotten and making up stories about how they came to be. 

The passion is not new; she used to spend hours sifting through three generations worth of goodies in the Williams’ attic. Danno always wondered where she got her fascination with the old junk but to Grace it was treasure. She loved the things that belonged to her family in the past and at eight, she was just beginning to appreciate this sense of history and understand what it meant. Then she found herself ripped away from it and moving to Hawaii to a brand new house that still smelt like fresh paint.

Her dad must have said something to Steve because one day a few months ago, he told her to make herself at home in his place. He said that whenever Danno brought her over, she was welcome to explore anywhere except his bedroom. She had been so glad to have a place to explore again that she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. That day, another thing fell into the ‘love about Hawaii’ column. And there is a rather long list of great things about living here. 

Grace actually finds it pretty funny when her dad complains about having to eat pineapple on pizza like it is the worst thing in the world. She can think of so many other foods that she’d rather not eat and actually likes pineapple on her pizza these days. Not that she’s ever telling Danno that. 

The thing of it is, she understands that when he gets all worked up about the pineapple and the sand and the fact that an island with a million people has the second worst traffic in the country, what her dad is really saying is that he misses home. She knows Steve thinks that missing home means the same as not liking Hawaii but it isn’t as simple as that. She also knows that he worries about them leaving Hawaii. 

But Grace hopes they won’t have to leave any time soon. She likes her school and has made lots of friends. She’s also excited now that her dad has finally relented and is going to let her start surf lessons. She loves Steve and Kono and Chin and that she gets to be a big sister now. But loving the people here doesn’t magically make her not miss Nana and Pop and her cousins. There are times that it seems like everyone in Hawaii is related to everyone else and that makes Grace feel left out. She, like her dad, has a list of things she misses about being back East, but unlike him she mostly keeps it to herself.

She does miss spending Christmas at her grandparents’ house, when everyone comes over with presents and there’s so much love and laughter. She always loved Thanksgiving when they would have more food than they could hope to eat. When she was younger, the leftovers used to feed Pop’s firehouse for a week and then when he’d retired, they started to mysteriously make their way to Danno’s precinct. To this day, her nana denies that she had anything to do with it but her knowing smile gives her away every time. Grace has always been pretty sure that she cooks too much on purpose. She wonders if Nana still sends food to her dad’s old partners now that he’s moved here.

She misses playing with her cousins and roaming the quiet neighborhood, scrambling through snowdrifts and catching flakes on her tongue. She misses a proper fall when they’d spend hours raking up all the fallen leaves into a pile and then spend just as long jumping into it. Instead now she makes wicked sandcastles with her friends and gets to see turtles in the wild when Danno and Steve take her to the North Shore. 

She realizes that Steve actually has a lot to do with how much they’ve settled in Hawaii. It’s because of him that Danno has a good job, even if it is pretty dangerous. They met Kono and Chin because of him and the places the three of them have introduced to the Williams are way better than what the guidebooks tell you. 

Then there is the way he opened up his house to them, not only to stay over if they were spending the day on his beach and it got late and she fell asleep, but also for her to continue her discoveries. Sure, the house by the shore is a lot newer than Nana and Pop’s and there isn’t an attic or a basement but there are plenty of sideboards, cupboards and bookshelves to sort through. They have a system where she uses a box Steve gave her to put aside anything she wants to spend more time looking at on her next visit. She also keeps out the things that bring up questions or that she wants to know more about. 

At first she had worried that asking Steve about things she found would make him sad, in case something belonged to his mom or dad and he wouldn’t be able to answer. She didn’t want to remind him that his family had died but he had assured her that her finding things from long ago helped him remember when things had been good and reminded him to appreciate what he has now. She’s pretty sure that means her and Danno but doesn’t think it’s right to ask about that.

The best part about exploring at Steve’s is that there is only one rule. If she finds any guns or knives or even bullets, she is not allowed to play with them and she has to get Danno or Steve straight away. The rule makes her dad really happy and when Steve told her that, she knew that it was to keep her safe. Danno really liked that Steve had thought of the rule all on his own, she could tell. Actually, she can tell a lot about what her dad thinks of Steve from watching his face. 

Grace started her treasure hunt the very day Steve told her to make herself at home. She chose the bookshelves outside the upstairs bedrooms and was thorough in her exploring, even dragging the overstuffed old chair over so she could stand on it and look on the top of the shelves. All she found up there was one sticky, deflated old party balloon stuck to the shelves like a glob of half dried glue and a lot of dust. She worked her way down each set of shelves, thumbing through interesting books and making a note of ones she thought Danno might like to look at while he pretended to hate watching her play in the water out back.

Grace thinks it’s funny how dusty everything is when she so often hears Danno teasing Steve for being a neat freak. It’s lucky she doesn’t have asthma or her searching would have been cut short after the first day. She found a few wooden boxes with various bits and pieces in them. On one of the lower shelves she found a thick cardboard box with the remains of a pretty china cup inside. That was definitely a curiosity and, when she showed Steve that evening, he burst out laughing.

“Mary broke that when she was ten,” his eyes twinkled. “Mom was sure it was one of us and it wasn’t me so I knew it must have been Mary. Mom was furious because the cup belonged to her mother and was part of a set of four. She searched our rooms and the trash but never found it.” He carefully picked up the handle, the curve of it ridiculously tiny against his large, strong fingers. “I can’t believe she was so sneaky.”

“Must run in the family then,” Danny muttered from behind the Chinese takeaway menu he was pretending to read.

It continued like this for a few months, with no particular pattern to where Grace explored next. The box of interesting things grew quite full until Steve sat and went through it with her, offering many of the things for her to keep. She decided to put most of it in ‘her’ room at the house, carefully arranging them on the shelves above the old desk. She grinned when Danno grumbled about Steve corrupting her to his family’s dorky, pack rat ways but she knew from the shine in his eyes that he was happy. 

Today it’s Sunday and they’d normally be at the beach but it’s dreary and cold so the plans for another surf lesson have been cancelled. Instead she decides to make a go of the space under the stairs. For the most part it’s open and there isn’t much there so she hasn’t felt overly drawn to the area until now. Something about the dim light makes the cramped corner more appealing today. 

She spends a couple of hours looking through the sideboard under the top stairs, finding one box of bullets which she sets aside to give to Steve. She also finds a bunch of old recipes torn from magazines. There are a few which might be fun to make so she piles them up neatly and takes them into the kitchen. While she’s in there, Danno tells her lunch is ready so she washes the dust off her hands and they take the hot vegetable soup out onto the lanai. It’s still raining but gently enough that they don’t get wet while they’re watching the rain splash and trickle down the leaves of the tropical plants. 

After lunch, Grace pokes about the lower half of the stairs. It’s too small for any cupboards but there is a stack of boxes, some of which are labeled with a Sharpie in neat capitals. These she knows belong to Steve, his things shipped home after deciding to stay in Hawaii. She doesn’t go through them, it’s not as interesting as the old stuff and she feels kind of snoopy looking at new things. She does move them though so she can get to a wooden box that looks much older. She grabs hold of the worn handle and pulls. The box doesn’t move. With a grunt, Grace bends her knees and uses her weight and manages to shift the box a little. With a loud scrape, it inches away from the wall but she just doesn’t have the strength to move it any further. 

“Grace?” Steve calls out and sticks his head over the landing, a yellow rubber glove on one hand and a bottle of shower spray in the other. “You okay down there?”

She looks up. “Yup. Just found a heavy one.”

“You want me to come and help you move it?”

She looks back at the box before shaking her head. “Nah, I’ll see what’s in it first.”

“Okay then. Please get me if you need help, okay? I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

“I will,” Grace smiles up at him and watches him retreat to the master suite. Okay, so maybe the neat freak thing is accurate after all. 

She returns her attention to the box. She obviously can’t move it but she can open it and see what is inside. Although there is a metal loop for one, there is no padlock and the lid opens easily. Inside, she finds hundreds of different rocks. No wonder it was so heavy! A quick glance shows her that someone once took great care of this collection, everything has a little tag saying what kind of rock it is and where it was found. There is an envelope tucked down one side that she pulls up and opens, finding dozens of Polaroids taken of larger rock formations. Some of the rocks look more like caves and have drawings on them. 

Right on top of the pile rests a plain brown package. It’s almost completely covered in stamps except for where the address is written; the recipient John McGarrett. Grace wonders if it is okay for her to look inside, she knows that opening other people’s mail is illegal, but she decides this has already been opened since the brown paper is ripped and held back together with the string. She pulls the bow, little tufts of the brown string float off and the paper falls open, revealing an equally plain cardboard box inside. She carefully opens this, pulls out a deflated piece of bubble wrap and piece of faded newspaper, the date of which she can just make out. It’s from 2005 and wrapped around a pretty ordinary looking, dark brown rock. It’s oddly shiny in a weird way and Grace wonders if she’d get a better look outside. 

She takes the box through the kitchen and into the open air laundry nook where she can see better. Sitting cross legged, she licks her thumb, strokes it over the rock and frowns. It’s weirdly soft and not cold like the others in the box. She wonders if perhaps it isn’t a rock at all but some kind of ball from an olden days sport. Or maybe something Hawaiian she hasn’t heard of. Either that or Steve is secretly a Harry Potter fan and at some point sent a Quiddich ball home to his father. Whatever it is, it feels more like a football than a stone. She wonders if there are any others like it inside. Going back through the kitchen, she gets the big metal strainer they use for spaghetti and takes it to the trunk, fills it with as many rocks as she can carry at once and returns to the laundry. Slowly she goes through the pile but doesn’t find any others like the bigger brown rock. 

Deciding she needs more room, she spreads the old newspaper on the floor and puts the rocks into piles, sorted using the labels attached to each one. A couple of hours pass and she has more than half of the big trunk transported to the laundry. She’s completely engrossed when Steve comes down with arms full of dirty sheets. 

She looks up, startled. “Can you get through?” 

Steve nods and picks his way to the washing machine, starting it up before squatting down beside her. “I can’t believe he kept these,” Steve picks up a small sandy colored rock and bounces it in his hand. “I used to collect these with my dad when I was a kid. We started when I was younger than you are.”

“I’m sorry. Do you want me to stop?” 

“No,” Steve shakes his head and smiles. “Actually I’m glad you found them. It gives me ideas for some cool places I can take you and Danno. Do you like the rocks?”

Grace nods. “Yeah, they’re interesting. I mean, I don’t know anything about them but the little labels help.”

“My dad taught me about them.” Steve looks thoughtful. “There’s a book somewhere about the rock types of Hawaii and how they were formed.”

“Oh, I saw that,” Grace frowns. “It’s in the shelves between the room I sleep in and yours.”

Steve smiles, proud of her memory. “You want to go get it?” At Grace’s enthusiastic nod, he gets to his feet and offers his hand to help her up. “I think I’ll move the trunk over to the coffee table while it’s half empty. We can look through the rest of them next time you come over.”

The pair spends the rest of the afternoon in the reading nook at the top of the stairs, Steve explaining how the volcanic history of the islands determined the geological structure and how each island down the chain shows the progression of time. After dinner, Danny helps them move the carefully sorted piles into the living room before Grace has to go back to her mother’s house. 

Nobody notices the small brown box that gets left under the sink by the hot water heater.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later, Steve is on his back tightening the pipe joints under the kitchen sink, when the front door slams and he hears footsteps stomping up the stairs. With one last twist, he tests the hold of the glue before he’s satisfied and drags himself out onto the floor. 

“Danny?” he calls out, wiping his hands on a rag before the glue sets on him as well. “Everything okay?” He gets to his feet just as his partner dumps three heavy grocery bags on the counter. 

“You mean other than an irate twelve year old trying to rip all your doors off their hinges?” Danny nudges his elbow at the tools spread over the bench to make room for the last bag which is tucked under his arm. 

“Sorry, let me get these out of your way.” Steve quickly gathers the various wrenches and rags into a pile. “Do you actually keep any food at your own house anymore or do you just use my fridge?”

“Pretty much,” Danny grins. “You fix the drip?”

“Yeah I think so. There was two inches of water in the bottom of the cabinet though. Lucky we caught it in time or the floor would have rotted.”

“Not to mention the hot water bill going through the roof,” Danny tugs up the leg of his work pants before crouching down to check out Steve’s handiwork. “Nice job, babe. Neat.” Like he expected any less really but it did take an embarrassingly long time for the SEAL to get an old car running. For more than nine miles at a time.

“Should hold,” Steve shrugs, leaning casually against the countertop. “So. Grace is upset?”

Danny stands again and starts putting cold produce away. “Yeah. I almost just took her straight home instead of subjecting you to a Williams funk. One of the delightful little princesses at Rachel’s country club had a go at Grace for being in the Aloha Girls.”

“Ah,” Steve nods slowly. “Not ladylike enough?”

“Lil’ bit.”

“And Grace took it bad.” It’s not quite a question but Steve is a little confused. He knows how much Grace loves her troop. 

“I think she’s afraid of letting her mom down and yeah, insulted because this little snob was badmouthing something Grace really likes doing.”

“Kids are evil.”

Danny frowns and Steve quickly adds, “Other kids I mean. Grace, she’s great, man.”

Danny sighs. “I just don’t know what to do. She likes tennis and she likes the pool and some of the girls at the club. But she likes getting grubby and learning stuff and, well, you saw her with your giant box of rocks. She pretty much shunned my apartment after that.”

“I noticed,” Steve smiles proudly. “Actually I have some other stuff I want to show her. Maybe now is a good time. Distract her.”

“You’re on your own, Babe,” Danny gestures to the groceries. “I love my daughter but I’m not going near her until she’s had at least half an hour to cool down.”

“I know, she definitely inherited your temper, Danno.”

“Shut up.”

With a grin, Steve pushes off the counter and brushes his hands off one last time before pausing. “Actually, I wanted to take the branches I trimmed last weekend to the dump before they aren’t ‘green’ waste any more. Can I see if she wants to come for a drive? Maybe the trip will give her some time to think.”

“Sure. Maybe see if she wants some shave ice or something on the way home. I couldn’t offer with a trunk full of cold food.” He resumes his unpacking and is almost done when Steve sticks his head around the corner to let him know that they’re leaving and he’ll turn the water back on on the way out. 

Danny wonders, not for the first time, how he managed to get a best friend who cared so much about his daughter that he’d put himself in the firing line like this. He just hopes that something they in SEAL school will equip Steve to handle a conflicted pre-teens. Maybe hostage negotiation class.

* * *   
Steve backs the truck out of its spot in the driveway and pulls up next to Grace. “I just need to get the tie downs and a tarp from the garage. Can you make sure there aren’t any really sharp looking branches around the edges?”

Grace nods soberly and starts circling the truck bed. By the time she’s done poking in a few stray sticks, Steve is back, blue tarp under one arm and a length of rope looped over his shoulders like he’s been crowned Miss Handyman America. She stifles a snicker and Steve grins back. 

“What?”

“Nothing,” she gives up trying to hide her amusement and laughs at him.

“Lets get this on before you dissolve into a fit of giggles and are no help to me at all.” Steve ducks his head so Grace can lift the rope off and then casts the tarp over the pile of branches and palm fronds, like a fisherman throwing out his net. It lands neatly and only needs a little straightening to cover the greenery. 

“Okay, hold this end for me,” Steve passes her the rope so he can throw the rest over the top of the load. “Hey, you just got your knot tying patch, right?”

Grace nods. 

“Why don’t you start that off for me then?” He frowns, thinking about the most basic but useful knots his dad first taught him before he even started scouts. “Do a square knot around that U bolt then tie off the end with a double half hitch.” Steve indicates an anchor spot on the side of the truck in front of her. 

Grace steps forward. “Uh. Okay,” she says, poking the end of the rope through the bolt and pulling.

Steve watches, frowning. “You want me to start it off for you?”

Grace nods, relieved. “Yeah. That would be good.”

Steve gently takes the rope from her hands and folds a bend about a foot from the end. He threads the bend through the bolt before stepping back. “You’ll have to pull the rope back across, sorry I threw it before I thought of using this knot.”

“That’s okay.” Grace gingerly takes hold of the rope again and frowns at it. After a few moments, she sags. “I can’t remember.”

“Hey, that’s okay.” Steve puts his hands over hers and guides them. “Hold the loop up like this, then put your hand through and grab hold of the both the long end the short end.” He watches as Grace does what he instructs. “Good. Then just pull the ends all the way through.”

“Like this?” Grace pulls the long piece back across the truck, the tarp crinkling as she goes.

“Just like that. You probably learnt it with another piece of rope but you can use what is essentially a square knot to join one rope to another loop like this. It’s good for securing a canoe to a tree, stuff like that.”

“I didn’t learn this one.”

Steve frowns. “You didn’t learn a square knot to get your badge? Which ones did you learn?”

Grace shrugs. “I don’t remember the names.”

“What kind of things did you tie up?”

“We didn’t really.”

Steve can’t believe that the troop leader would be so remiss in her training of the girls but doesn’t want to say anything in front of Grace when she’s already upset about her involvement with the Aloha Girls. 

“Well then, you just did your first square knot,” he tries to sound chipper.

“Cool. And the other one you said, the double hitch….”

“Double half hitch. It will stop the end working loose while we’re bouncing down the highway.” Steve takes her hands again. “Here, like this.” 

He shows her the knot, guiding her and then when she’s done, they throw the rope back across the top. They loop it through the other tie downs before reaching the last U bolt. 

“Do you want to learn one more?”

Grace nods eagerly. 

“This is still a square knot really, but it’s different doing it when you’ve only got one end.” This time, he shows her how to loop, push and weave the knot, slowly and with exaggerated movements. When he’s done he pulls it free and then guides Grace through doing it herself. When she seems to have mastered it, he nods, satisfied and suggests that they hightail it out of there before it gets too dark to go to the dump.

Later that night, after Grace is in bed, Steve and Danny are enjoying a Longboard while they watch last week’s football highlights. Steve brings up the incident that afternoon. 

“It’s like she didn’t know what to do at all.”

“Are you sure she didn’t just freeze and forget?” Danny asks cautiously, not wanting to offend Steve. 

“No. She had no idea. She couldn’t even try to get her knot started.”

Danny frowns. “That’s really weird. She got her badge.”

“They shouldn’t pass kids who don’t know what they’re doing. I mean, it’s not like it’s life or death training but…”

“The kids still need to earn their stripes so to speak,” Danny nods. “I agree. We can ask Grace in the morning and find out what’s going on.”

“Good. She’s good at it, Danny. The two knots I showed her this afternoon, she picked up on them quickly and she was really neat. There is no way that she just forgot.”

Danny puts his hand on his partner’s forearm to calm him. “Hey, it’s okay, Babe. We’ll sort it out. Maybe the girls need to get a visit from their favorite big bad Super SEAL and learn a few tricks. I don’t know. We’ll sort it out, okay?”

Steve nods. “Okay.”

“You never run out of ways to surprise me,” Danny takes a long draw of his beer. “Usually there are projectiles involved but this, this was a good surprise. Thank you for telling me. In fact, thank you for noticing and for thinking that this is important.”

Steve looks clueless. “Of course it’s important. It’s survival.”

“That’s my Army man,” Danny grins. 

“Navy,” Steve growls.


	4. Chapter 4

The chance to talk to Grace about how things have been going at her Aloha Girls comes sooner than expected and in the form of an ambush. She pounces on Steve the second he walks in the kitchen door after his morning run and bombards him with questions about this knot and that knot and “Can you teach me how to tie up a rope really tight to make an emergency shelter? Please, Steve. We don’t have to tell my dad if you think it will make him mad.”

Steve freezes and resists the urge to reach for the nearest pot lid and use it as a shield. “Good morning, Grace. How are you this morning? I hope you slept well,” he says, somewhat sarcastically. 

Grace just bounces on the spot. “You spend too much time with Danno, that’s what he does when I forget to say thank you or kiss him goodbye at Mommy’s house.”

“It’s called overexposure,” Steve chuckles. “He probably does it to me too but I just don’t notice any more.” He winks conspiratorially and waits for Grace to scramble up into her usual spot, perched atop one of the bench island stools. She’s already got two bowls and spoons and three mugs set out for their usual ‘school day’ breakfast. She and Steve each have a bowl of cereal, no particular favorites, just whatever they feel like out of the five or so Steve keeps stored in different airtight containers. Steve and Danny have coffee and Grace drinks tea or juice from a mug, just like her Dad. 

“Okay, let’s get a couple of things straight,” he says firm but not angry, “There is no keeping anything from Danno, ever. No matter how many boys ask you to the Winter Dance, no matter how big the explosion is. Keeping secrets only leads to trouble. Understand?”

She nods.

“Good. And secondly, I’m glad you asked me for help, Grace,” Steve says casually as he pours today’s breakfast choice of Corn Flakes and adds a few raisins to the top of each bowl. “I mentioned to your dad how worried you got when I asked you to tie the branches down last night and we wanted to ask you if you’re still having fun in Aloha Girls.”

“We don’t learn good stuff since Madeline had to go away and look after her aunt,” Grace says through a mouthful of cereal.

“Again? Without the see-food this time.”

Grace swallows exaggeratedly. “A couple months ago, Madeline’s aunt got sick and there wasn’t anyone else to take over so Suzy’s mom has been filling in.”

“Oh,” Steve nods. “Okay well do you want me and Danno to talk to her and see if she wants some help until Madeline comes back?”

Grace shrugs. “I guess so.”

“Is that a no?” he frowns. 

“Not a no. But… You kind of make the other girls go a bit silly and it’s annoying. They wouldn’t stop talking about ‘Steve and Grace’s dad’ after the camping trip.”

“Silly?” 

“Well Suzy’s dad is an accountant and Lisa’s dad is a soldier but he’s mostly away and I think he just works in an office or something. Does the Army have offices? Anyway, Mommy says it’s because you’re very handsome and they just have good taste.”

Steve chokes on his coffee. “Uh. Well tell your mom thanks, I guess.”

“But it’s not your fault.”

Steve isn’t quite sure what to say to that and is more than relieved when Danny finally makes an appearance, heading straight for the coffee. 

“What’s not Steve’s fault? I thought we talked about this already, Monkey. When in doubt, it is _always_ Steve’s fault.”

“Danno,” Grace giggles. “You’re silly.”

Danny grins. “Not silly. Suspicious. And wizened. Mostly suspicious.” He plants a good morning kiss on his daughter’s head and snags a few packets of sugar from the drawer where he keeps them so the ants can’t get in, ripping the ends off and tipping the contents into his cup. “Grace, Steve and I were wondering something.”

“It’s okay, Daddy. Steve already asked me what was wrong at Aloha Girls and I told him that my leader is away and the mom we have filling in sucks.”

“Grace!” the two men admonish in unison. 

“What? It’s true.”

“Maybe so,” Danny perches next to Grace on a stool. “But she’s probably doing her best and she isn’t as experienced. Madeline’s an emergency nurse, right? There’s not much that can compete with that.” He looks at Steve who nods, giving him the go ahead to tell Grace what they discussed last night. “Do you want us to offer to help out a bit more until she comes back?”

Grace snickers and Steve shakes his head minutely, urging her not to tell her dad what she told him about the other girls. She composes herself and nods sagely. “Yes please, Danno. I would like to learn how to tie a knot properly. And we are all going for our advanced first aid patches because Madeline is an ER nurse and thinks it is important. Suzy’s mom got D.R.A.B.C.D. wrong.”

That information settles it for the two men. “We’ll call her when her get to the office.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Grace looks sternly at her father. “Just be nice.”

“What? I’m always nice!” he protests. 

“Whatever you say, Danno.”

* * * 

The call to Suzy’s mom, Angela, goes much more smoothly than either Steve or Danny could have anticipated. The relief in her voice at their offer is clear. She invites them to join the troop that afternoon if they can work it into the taskforce’s schedule, explaining that the head of the service unit will be there to go through the paperwork with them. If they agree, this new arrangement will be more official than the time they chaperoned, and saved, the camp out. 

They decide to let Grace make her way to the meeting as planned and to surprise her when they get there. Luckily, they don’t catch any cases and after an afternoon spent catching up on paperwork and various other mundane, behind the scenes chores which nobody thinks about when they agree to sign up for a crack government taskforce, the team is able to call it quits a little before 4:30. 

“Still a couple of hours until sunset, Steve. You want to come over to Diamondhead Beach and catch some waves?” Kono offers. “You’re more than welcome to come too, Danny.”

“I’d rather eat kale,” the detective deadpans. “But thanks anyway.”

“Actually, we’re headed to Grace’s Aloha Girls meeting this afternoon. The volunteer mom is a little out of her depth and we said we’d help out until their regular leader is back from the mainland.”

“Shootz,” Kono nods. “She’ll like that. Having her Dad and Uncle Steve around to show off to her friends.”

“Yeah well, just watch yourself,” Danny glares at her. “If any of them want to do a self defense badge or something, you might find yourself ‘volunteering’ for that.”

Kono laughs. “Sounds more like conscription to me, brah. Let me know, okay?” With that, she turns and leaves, stopping on the way out to say a few words to Chin. 

Steve looks at his watch. “Right, let’s get going.”

* * *   
“Steve!” Grace jumps up from sitting cross legged on the carpet and bounds over to him, throwing her arms around his middle. “You came!”

“Yup. Angela said it would be okay. We might not start today though because Danno and I have paperwork to do.”

“Where is he?” Grace looks behind Steve.

“Parking.”

She frowns disbelievingly. “You let him drive?”

“Uh,” Steve blushes. “He hid the keys.”

“Oh, he is good at hiding things,” Grace drags him over to her friends who are sharing an afternoon snack. She offers him an orange quarter but he shakes his head. “I never ever can find my Christmas presents. Where did he put the keys?”

Steve drops to the floor with the girls and sighs. “Tied to a piece of string around his belt loop then down the leg of his pants.”

“Ooo,” says a brown haired girl who Steve remembers from the camp out. Caitlyn, he thinks. 

“Oh that is sneaky,” another nods.

“He got that from Nanna. She used to keep a spare back door key tied up with some dental floss and dangled down the old coal cellar doors.”

“Is a coal cellar like the basement in Home Alone?” one of the girls asks curiously. 

Grace nods. “Yup. I forgot we don’t have them here. It’s big doors on old houses that you open up to dump in coal for the fires. Well, I guess from the olden days. They have electricity now. Nana used to hide a key down the gap between the doors in case anyone got locked out.”

“Ah so that’s where he gets it from,” Steve grins. He wants so badly to meet Danny and Grace’s family one day so he can understand more of what makes them how they are.

“Yup.”

One of the girls, Steve hasn’t met her before so she must be new, raises her hand and clears her throat awkwardly. 

Steve cocks his head. “You don’t have to raise your hand here do you?”

“Um. No. But you’re a soldier so I wasn’t sure.”

“Oh,” Steve nods seriously. “It’s fine. But you have to make sure you salute me before you go.”

“What?”

“He’s kidding. Geez I leave you unsupervised for five minutes and you start a junior ROTC class.”

“Danno!” Grace jumps up again and hugs her father the same way she had Steve.

“Hey, Monkey,” he smiles down at her. “What’s he been telling you?”

“That you used Nana’s trick to hide the keys from him. That was smart.”

Danny grins. “Why thank you. See, there is so much wisdom in your old man’s head which he has to impart upon your friends.”

“Um, why didn’t Steve just cut the string tied to your belt loop and pull the keys back up?”

The group falls silent and looks at the girl who had raised her hand before. Suddenly, Steve and Danny burst into laughter, looking at each other. “Maybe they don’t need so much of the wisdom imparting, Danno,” Steve chuckles. “She just outwitted you in one move.”

“Ah but he’d have to catch me first and I am fast like a…. Angela. Hi,” Danny stops and smiles at the woman who has approached them. 

“Detective, Commander. Thanks for coming.” She smiles and the men are relieved to see that she does seem genuinely welcoming of them. They had been worried that their offer would be taken as a sign that she, as Grace put it, sucked. They didn’t want Angela to feel threatened and genuinely appreciated the time she has put into the troop. “The girls are really excited to have you helping out and I know that you’ll have them tying knots like experts in no time.”

“We’re happy to help,” Steve smiles back and Danny nods.

“If you’re ready, you can go out back and get the paperwork all sorted and then you can join in at the end if there’s time.”

“Sounds good,” Danny holds out a hand for Steve to grab and hoist himself off the floor. “Not to sound sexist or anything but I can’t sew for crap. Steve’s handy with a needle.”

Angela regards him. “We’ll keep that in mind. Okay, I’ll let you get on with it. The unit office is just through those doors and we’ll see you when you’re done.”

While they’re walking out the back, Steve wonders what he’ll have to promise in return for Danny filling all this paperwork out for him too. Maybe a threat would do instead. “Hey, Danno?” he says just loud enough for his partner to hear. 

“Yeah?”

“You ever try your Mom’s trick with the car keys again, I’m going in after them.”

Danny grins.

* * *   
In the end, they do manage to get the paperwork filled out in time to join the girls for the last twenty minutes of their meeting. Even with Steve doing his himself. Angela had been teaching the girls a new stitch and the girls had picked it up fairly easily. When Grace sees her dad walking over, she jumps up in excitement and turns to her leader. 

“Is there still time, please?”

Angela nods. “I think so. To start at least one anyway.”

“Yay,” Grace bends down and places her work on the floor before approaching her dad and Steve. “Angela says you can teach us a knot today. Everyone wants to.”

The men look to Angela who nods. “They’re very excited.”

 

“We can see that,” Steve raises an eyebrow. “Okay, girls put down the sewing needles and step away from the fabric.”

“Really?” Danny scoffs. “Now you’re just making things up as you go along, aren’t you?”

Steve grins. 

Twenty minutes later, the parents start arriving to collect their kids and find the troop engrossed, working on the square knot Steve had shown Grace the day before. The girls who picked it up fast are showing their friends and helping each other to learn it. 

“I can’t thank you enough,” Angela says as she watches. “I know it is cliché but I don’t really know how to do any of this stuff. The sewing, yes. My mother taught me that. My dad was really into all this but since I was a girl, I think he went out of his way to not make me like or do ‘boy’ things. He didn’t want me to think he was disappointed he got me.”

“And yet you stepped up anyway so the girls wouldn’t be left without a leader,” Danny sighs. “I wish Grace’d told me sooner, you wouldn’t have been left with this for so long.”

“It was only meant to be a couple of weeks,” Angela explains. “But Madeline’s aunt is worsening. The doctors believe it won’t be long now and she decided to stay there until the end.”

“Of course. This will work out fine,” Danny assures her. “You’ll see. And hey, with that lug teaching the wilderness stuff, there’s no way you won’t get your chance to learn it all too.”

Angela laughs through shining eyes as they watch Steve, crouched on the floor, shoulders towering above his charges. Danny isn’t sure who is more wrapped around whose little finger and he just knows that Steve will be even more impossible after this. At least he’ll be excited about something that’s not flammable. 

“I’d ask where on earth you found him, Danny,” Angela smiles. “But I’m afraid to know.”

“You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey thanks for letting me do this,” Danny grunts as he heaves a canvas laundry bag up onto the counter by the tubs. “I still can’t work out what’s tripping the fuse box at my place but the washer and dryer just sent it into a meltdown.”

“No problem.” Steve is watching from the doorway, curious to know how Danny goes about this task. When he was between places and living here in the house, he somehow managed to do it without Steve seeing. For all the teasing about Steve’s military OCD, he suspects that Danny is more than a little than picky when it comes to doing his washing. 

“You just going to stand there?”

Steve pushes off the door frame. “You want some help?”

“No. I want you to stop lurking and go away so I can get this done.”

“You know, you’re making me suspicious, Danny.”

“Everything makes you suspicious you paranoid freak.”

“Still,” Steve sidles over and tries to look into the bag. It’s fastened up tight. “It makes me wonder what exactly you’re hiding that you’re so secretive about your laundry.” 

“What I’m hiding? What do you mean, it’s just… Wait,” Danny scowls. “You’re not going to trick me. And whatever you’re thinking about, stop it! A man’s dirty smalls are nobody’s business but his own. I been doing my own laundry since I was twelve and couldn’t stand to think of my precious Ma touching my undies. That’s it. Okay?”

Steve huffs. “Fine then. You’ll need this though,” he holds up an unopened box of detergent. “Just try not to flood my laundry, okay?”

After standing on his toes and leaning over the bench to check through the window that Steve is truly gone, Danny tips the laundry bag and out tumble two smaller, mesh bags. One is his and one Grace’s. Even with the more equal custody arrangement these days, Grace’s school uniforms still get laundered by Rachel as nobody in their right mind would iron those pleats every week. The skirts go to the dry cleaner with Stan’s $1000 suits and Rachel takes care of the blouses. 

That leaves Danny with whatever non-school clothes Grace keeps at his place (assortment of shorts, tops and light jackets, pajamas), a couple of pairs of swimmers and of course underwear. He wonders if he can start to plant the parent-undie phobia into Grace’s head and get her doing her laundry soon but thinks better of it. That’s one of his Ma’s sneaky parenting tricks that he doesn’t think he should be using. After a thorough check that nothing red has snuck into the load, Danny adds the powder and starts the machine. 

Danny’s own clothes take a few seconds to sort, pants in one pile and everything else in another. He sets them aside and picks up the new detergent box. He knows that Steve can be anal (‘Particular, Danny. I like to know where I will find things when I want them’) about stuff like this so he fully intends to put it up on the shelf behind the bench. 

“Son of a bitch!” Danny drops the box and detergent spills everywhere. Hopping on one foot, Danny clutches at the other and sees a small spot of blood on the end. He bends down to see what the hell he stubbed his toe on and finds a cardboard box under the laundry tub. There’s a rip down one side and a large staple sticking straight out. Just his luck that his bare toe should find such a tiny target.

“Danny?” Steve comes crashing through the kitchen and into the laundry nook. “What happened?” His eyes go straight to the blood like he has some kind of Injured Danny Radar. There’s quite a lot for such a small prick.

“Kicked a box under the tub. Think the staple went in pretty deep.” 

Steve crouches and quickly sees the offending object. “Grace must have left one of the boxes of rocks out here by mistake. I’ll throw it out later.” He takes hold of Danny’s elbow and starts to guide him inside.

“Not an invalid, Steven.”

“You’re the one hopping like a lame rabbit,” Steve counters. “Besides, you want to check your own toe and see if you have any rusty staple in it, be my guest. In fact, I’m looking forward to watching you try and bend that much.”

Danny scowls. “You’re the worst friend in the world, you know that, right? Taking joy in my pain.”

“Come on, let’s get you fixed up.”

Together they hop-walk into the kitchen and Danny waits until Steve’s back is turned before wriggling awkwardly up onto one of the stools. Steve takes the first aid kit, which more resembles an oversize picnic cooler than a typical emergency supply box, off the top shelf of the pantry and opens it on the kitchen island. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Steve says conversationally as he selects an antibacterial and a gauze pad. “What do you think about making a second kit that lives where Grace can reach it? She’s got a basic first aid patch and wants to go for her advanced one so it might be good for her to be able to get to some stuff in an emergency.” 

Danny winces as Steve applies the antiseptic to his toe. “Why not just move that kit lower so she can reach it?”

“Uh,” Steve looks at the large, very organized bag and back to Danny.

“What the hell have you got in there, Steve?”

“Um,” he dabs at Danny’s toe. “Let’s just say that we’re well equipped to handle a wide range of minor to somewhat life threatening medical situations. And half the things you make me see an EMT for, I could totally handle myself.”

“And you keep the kit up high so Grace doesn’t get into it.” Danny’s heart swells with appreciation but also with a little bit of anger that Steve hadn’t told him about the Super First Aid Kit of Doom while he was living here. He decides to take the high road and not make an issue out of it since Steve did have the foresight to ensure Grace’s safety. 

When he’s satisfied that there’s no staple broken off in Danny’s toe, Steve begins wrapping, gauze first. 

“Sure,” Danny says, trying not to flinch from how much Steve applying the small bandage to his foot tickles. “Whatever you think she’ll be able to safely use, and maybe a few more advanced things in case there’s something we can talk her through?”

Steve nods. “Good.”

“No suture kits,” Danny adds as an afterthought. “I don’t doubt that my baby girl is perfectly capable but that is just disgusting and I don’t want her having to sew up anyone she knows.” 

“Fair enough. I’ll have a look at the skills in the advanced first aid patch and put together a bunch of kits that the girls can use. We’ll keep Grace’s here where she can reach it.”

“Sounds good,” Danny slides off the stool and tests his toe. It doesn’t hurt nearly as much now that it’s bandaged firmly. “Nice job.”

Steve grins. “Your tax dollars, hard at work.”

* * *   
A quick phone call to Rachel explaining the fuse box washing machine conundrum sees her dropping Grace off at Steve’s instead of Danny’s after her weekly tennis lesson. 

“You’re spending a lot of time here lately,” Rachel observes after Grace has run off into the house to find its owner. “Is there something we need to discuss?”

Danny frowns, confused. “No. Everything is fine. I haven’t been evicted or the victim of black mould again if that’s what you’re implying.”

“That’s not what I’m implying at all, Danny.”

“It’s really just some problem with the wiring, I promise it’s safe for Grace to stay with me.”

“Daniel, you don’t need to get defensive,” Rachel holds up her hands. “I was merely making an observation. Grace talks about this house rather a lot. She talks about Steve and all his ‘cool stuff’ almost as much as she does about you.”

“Oh.”

“It’s nothing. I’m glad she is enjoying herself and finding things that interest her.” Rachel leans in and pulls Danny into a quick hug before stepping back. “I’d better run, Charlie was asleep in the car but the movement stopping usually wakes him after a few minutes. Have a good night.”

Danny waves lamely to her back as she bustles back up the front walk, out the arch and into the waiting sedan. He’s still not quite used to how well they’re getting along since the court found in his favor and ruled that Rachel couldn’t take Grace from the island and her strange comments today have thrown him.

“You know, we could have Rachel and Stan come over for dinner some time if you want,” Steve’s voice startles Danny and he accidentally slams the front door, narrowly missing his injured toe.

“Huh?”

“We could grill something good or maybe make a fire pit down in the sand and Grace can show off some of her campfire cooking that she’s learnt.”

“Maybe,” Danny follows Steve back through the house and into the kitchen where dinner is halfway prepared. 

“I assumed you guys were staying to eat,” Steve picks up a peeler and takes to a small pile of carrots, swiping at Danny’s hand when he swiftly steals one.

“Yeah, people seem to be assuming a lot lately,” Danny mumbles around his mouthful. 

“What?”

“What Rachel said…” Danny pauses. “Do Grace and I spend too much time here?”

“What? No.”

“You’d tell me if we were, right? I know she’s enjoying having a place to explore and god knows Rachel’s house is more like a museum than a treasure trove.”

“Danny, what did Rachel say?” Steve puts the peeler down and comes around the end of the island, perching on the stool next to Danny’s. “Did something happen?”

Danny shakes his head. “No. Nothing. She just mentioned Grace talks about coming here. A lot. And wonders if it is because we actually do come here a lot and I think she thinks I’m living here again and trying to hide it from her.”

“Oh,” Steve exhales slowly. “And I suppose me calling to assure her that you aren’t would only make things worse.”

“Probably.”

“Can you tell her what you just said, that you wouldn’t hide your living arrangements from her because if she found out it might give her cause to try and take Grace from you again.”

 

“Hmm,” Danny nods thoughtfully. “That might be helpful actually. How’d you get so good at this kind of thing?”

“Courts martial,” Steve deadpans, thumping Danny hard on the back when he chokes a little on the carrot.


	6. Chapter 6

“Danny!” Steve’s harsh whisper through the downstairs bedroom door is met with a thump and a curse. He raises his hand to knock but meets only air as the door swings open inwards.

“I heard it too,” Danny whispers back and slots into place behind Steve, sidearm at the ready. “It came from the kitchen,” he adds, nodding to the other side of the wall next to them.

Steve holds his finger over his lips and indicates with his head, they’re in work mode now and make their way silently through the dark lower floor, clearing it room by room. They circle back to the kitchen doorway and stand flush against either side of the frame. 

“Danno?” Grace calls out from above. “Danno I heard a noise.” 

Danny freezes. He’s on the side of the door under the balcony. Steve shushes him again and steps backwards, away from the door, and cranes his neck up. Grace, disheveled from sleep, is peering over the railing. “Get back to your room,” Steve orders gently. “We’re seeing what it is.” Grace nods and slips back into the darkness.

Steve steps back to the doorway and counts down with his fingers. Three. Two. One. The men round the entryway in tandem and sweep into the room. Steve takes larger steps to clear around behind the island and the pair meet again at the door to outside. 

“Clear,” Steve whispers and Danny nods and indicates the door outside to the laundry area. He grabs the doorknob and again, Steve counts down, Danny pulls the door open and Steve pounces through, torch beam shining bright from his weapon. 

He straightens and relaxes. “There’s nobody here, Danny,” he announces, clicking off the light and putting the safety on.

Danny lowers his own weapon and steps into the laundry. “I don’t suppose it was a raccoon,” he mumbles, mostly to himself. 

“Nope.”

“Deer?”

Steve scowls. “Have I taught you nothing?”

“I know Hawaii ain’t got no bears. Mongoose?” Danny offers helpfully. 

“Not likely in the suburbs. It was probably a stray dog or cat knocking something over.” 

They look around the room and see that the washing powder is again spread everywhere, this time all over the counter, the box lying on its side under its place on the shelf. Danny realizes that the dustpan he had used earlier to clean up the spilt detergent is now in the metal laundry tub instead of on its hook by the dryer. 

“Must’ve been a cat,” he announces, holding up the dustpan. “Knocked this off the hook and into the sink.”

“Right,” Steve glares at the offending object. “Well I don’t suppose Grace went back to bed and is fast asleep right now.”

Danny snorts. “Babe, we’re lucky she didn’t follow us down here with her baseball bat.”

“Why don’t you go and get her and we’ll make some hot chocolate?”

“You weren’t scared were you?” Danny teases. Steve growls. 

Danny walks back inside, laughing and calling out that Grace can come down now. He hears her thump noisily down the stairs and she runs through the living room and into the kitchen, flicking on the light switch as she passes. 

“What was that noise?” she asks, wild eyed.

“Just a stray cat knocking things over in the laundry. Nothing to worry about,” Danny sweeps stray hairs out of her eyes and pulls her to his side. “Steve wants hot chocolate. What do you say we treat him to the special, top secret, Williams preparation?”

“It’s not top secret. You got the recipe from Martha Stewart.”

“Shhh!” Danny clamps his hand over her mouth and looks shiftily to the door. “Don’t go telling people that!”

Grace licks his hand, laughing, causing him to pull it away with a loud “Ew!” He wipes it off on her pajama top. 

There’s another thump from outside and a loud exclamation. “What the fuck? Danny get out here. Now.”

“Steven!” Danny admonishes and storms to the door to remind his partner that small ears are present. Grace pushes past him and freezes. Steve is standing there, with his gun drawn and a scary look on his face. 

“Uncle Steve?” She rarely uses the honorary title any more but she’s tired and afraid and maybe it helps her feel safer.

“Grace get back inside,” he orders in a tone of voice that leaves no room for doubt. She shrinks back behind her father, through the door and climbs up onto the kitchen bench so she can look out the window. 

“What is it?” Danny’s own gun points at his laundry bag, the target of Steve’s concern. 

“I went to pick it up and get the detergent off before a gecko or something gets poisoned. But something growled at me from inside. Heavy. Definitely not a cat.”

Danny heaves a breath and thinks. “Okay. Grab the laundry basket from behind you.”

Steve holds his gun in his left hand, not leaving the bag for a second, reaches across with his right hand and takes hold of the basket, emptying Danny’s freshly folded clothes into the mess on the bench. 

“Okay, now come around here beside me,” Danny steps over to make room. “I’m going to lift the bag a bit and then I want you to drop the basket over whatever is in there, got it?”

“Got it,” Steve flicks the safety on so he can use two hands on the laundry basket without accidentally shooting someone in the face. “Okay, ready.”

Danny gently shakes the bag so the lump is nearer the opening and the basket drops neatly over the animal inside. “Good now weigh it down.” He waits until Steve puts one foot and a good deal of his weight on the basket before he starts jiggling the bag out from under the lip of the makeshift trap, forcing the animal closer and closer to exposure. 

“You totally catch and release spiders with a glass and some cardboard, don’t you Danno?” Steve watches as the plan works. A black foot appears out the entry of the bag, quickly disappears back in again and is followed by a desperate scrabbling to stay inside.

“Grace won’t let me kill them,” Danny grunts and gives the bag one last heave, tumbling the animal out and into the open under the upturned laundry basket. If he weren’t running on so much adrenaline, Danny would appreciate the way Steve is able to bend double to scrutinize the contents while still keeping one foot on top of the basket. 

“Yeah,” Danny frowns at his partner. “That is definitely not a cat. You’re right, I don’t know enough about Hawaiian animals other than what Grace has studied. It’s not a giant amakihi. So, go on, rub it in. What is it?”

“Danny,” Steve looks up and looks as confused as he sounds. “I have never seen an animal like that in my life.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Can I come out yet?” Grace calls through the window.

“No!” the men answer in unison, looking to the window then back at each other. 

“Really, what the hell is it, Steve?”

Steve bends impossibly closer, just how flexible _is_ he anyway, and the animal looks like it can’t decide between cowering in the corner and defending itself. 

“It looks like some kind of lizard,” Steve guesses. “Maybe a New Caledonian giant gecko although they’re usually lighter in color.”

“Whatever it is, it’s probably here illegally,” Danny squats to get a good look. “Oh it’s kind of pretty in a creepy, scaly, reptilian sort of way.”

“My weights are in the garage, take Grace out and get some to weigh the basket down. We can Google ‘weird looking black reptiles’ and call animal control in the morning.”

“Right,” Danny hands his gun to Steve and backs away. “Don’t let it out.”

The look Steve shoots him is scathing at best.

“Gracie,” Danny walks in the door and she’s already waiting on the other side of the room, garage keys in hand. “Geez, eavesdropping much?”

“Yup,” she nods. “What is it, Danno?”

“We don’t know,” he gently pushes her into the living room and out to the front door. “Put some shoes on, who knows what’s on the garage floor.”

Grace complies, sliding on her slippahs and waits for her father to do the same. “Maybe it escaped from somebody’s house?” she suggests.

“Maybe. But if Steve doesn’t know what it is, it’s probably been smuggled into Hawaii, maybe even the country. We have to report it, Babe.”

Grace sighs. “I know. If it got out and was able to breed, it would out compete the other animals and Hawaiian natives might die out.”

“Good to see those school fees paying off,” Danny teases.

“I didn’t learn that at school,” Grace corrects him. “Steve taught me.”

“Oh,” Danny’s not sure how to respond. 

“He asked me if we had been learning about endangered and extinct animals because you knew what a giant amakihi was and then he showed me some cool books from when he was at school.”

“Really? He went to all that trouble?” 

“Yup.”

“I think he’s a better influence on you than I realized,” Danny jokes. “Getting you to do extra school work and learn stuff all on your own. Good to see he’s doing more than putting ideas of big wave surfing in your head.” He holds out his hand as they reach the garage door. “Keys please.”

A few minutes later, basket securely weighed down, Steve insists on getting his hot chocolate so Danny is standing over the stove warming milk while Grace perches up on the bench again, craning for a glimpse of the animal.

“Cloves?” Steve scoffs. “That’s your secret ingredient? Really?”

“I’ll have you know that this recipe has been passed down from generation to generation of Williams and until this day, it has not been bettered.”

“Danno,” Grace turns to frown at him. “Don’t lie to Steve.”

“Yeah, Danno,” Steve grins. “Don’t lie to Steve.”

“Whatever. It’s good and quit whining or you won’t be getting any,” he gives the pot one last stir before turning off the heat. “Get some mugs out of the dishwasher please, Grace. And you,” he points at Steve with the ladle, dripping a little chocolate on the floor, “Get the marshmallows out from wherever it is you hide them.”

“I only hide them because you eat them all,” Steve defends. “Just like you eat all my frozen mint patties. Close your eyes.”

“What? No. I will not close my eyes. You know my secret ingredient, I want to know where you hide the marshmallows.”

“I’m not going to sit on the couch and eat an entire jar of ground cloves while I watch the Yankees get their asses handed to them,” Steve counters. “Close your eyes or no marshmallows.”

“Aww, Danno. I want little marshmallows,” Grace pouts. “Just close your eyes.”

“Fine,” he sighs dramatically and tilts his back, scowling at the ceiling. “You realize once Grace knows, your game is up, right?”

“She’s known for months.”

“Oh.” 

“Okay, you can look now, Danno,” Grace holds out the bag and scrutinizes the administering of the marshmallows, ensuring that exactly six go into each cup. No more, no less and no extras for Danno.

“I suppose you want me to close my eyes so you can hide them again?”

Steve leans over his shoulder and peers into the bag. “There’s only four left. We may as well just eat them,” he suggests and Grace’s hand is in the packet before he even finishes his sentence.

Danny throws the empty bag into the bin under the sink. “Okay, what now?” he asks, picking up his mug and taking a sip. He doesn’t care what Steve says, he makes the best damned hot chocolate and Steve can shove it.

“Now we try and work out what the hell that thing out there is so we know what to tell animal control in the morning.”

“I’ll get the computer,” Grace slides off the bench and disappears into the study. 

Steve holds the door open with his foot and the three of them make their way outside to the laundry, sitting side by side, backs against the kitchen wall. Danny stretches his legs out in front of him, Grace next to him then Steve, the latter two sitting cross legged. The animal is curled up in the far corner of the basket, head tucked under its front legs and taking up just under a quarter of the floor space.

“Okay,” Grace opens the laptop and turns it to Steve. “Password please.”

Danny dramatically covers his eyes again, making Steve chuckle while he taps away at the keys. “Just let me save some files,” he clicks the touch pad a few more times then turns the computer back to Grace again. “All yours.”

She frowns, concentrating as she clicks on the browser and taps the search bar. Danny leans in and snorts. 

“You’re actually searching for ‘weird looking black reptiles’ aren’t you?”

Grace looks up. “Well yeah. How else would you describe it?”

“Fair point,” he flips his hand. “G’head.”

Grace hits enter and then clicks the image filter so they can look for something that looks like their captive. “Okay so he’s about the size of a small dog and black with shiny scales.” She looks back at the screen.

“That one,” Danny points.

“Marine iguana,” both Grace and Steve answer. 

“Almost the right size but not the right shape,” Steve adds.

“Okay, no more Animal Planet for either of you,” Danny scowls. “Attenborough addicts, the both of you.”

They ignore him. 

“Maybe just try searching for ‘black lizard’, Steve suggests, hoping that some color mutation of the giant gecko gets a hit.

Grace does this and a few more promising results pop up. “Oooh look at this one,” she clicks on a beautiful, sleek black lizard. “It’s the right color and shape.”

“It says it’s a melanistic blue tongue skink. They’re from Australia,” Danny reads over her shoulder. 

“Oh,” Grace closes the image. “They have those at the Honolulu Zoo. Normal ones not mela…”

“Melanistic,” Steve prompts. “It is a mutation that means it has all black pigmentation instead of normal coloring.”

“Well blue tongues don’t get as big as that,” she nods at the basket. 

“I think it’s legs are longer too,” Danny adds. “Other than that though, it’s the right shape and color though so look for ‘large black skink’.”

“ _Egernia kingii_ ,” Grace sounds out almost correctly. “55cm, maybe long enough but it only gets to 8 ounces so it’s not fat enough.”

It continues like this for several more minutes. Not a goanna or other kind of monitor (nose not pointy enough and but it does have the weird spikey things around its neck). For a while Steve wonders if it could be a giant axolotl, it’s certainly the physically closest thing they’ve seen yet, the shape and soft spikes around its neck are right but it doesn’t look at all slimey. Steve also thinks that as an amphibian, the contact with the laundry detergent should have made it very sick very quickly. 

It’s also not an _Ergernia major_ , another skink from Australia, commonly called a land mullet. The overall length might fit but again it doesn’t weigh nearly enough to be the solid, heavy animal Danny had to heft out of the laundry bag. 

The sun is starting to rise by the time they give up and Danny stands to stretch out his back. The laptop battery is almost flat and he suggests they get the animal control number before it dies completely. After a quick search they decide that the State Department of Agriculture should be the ones notified. Danny taps the number into his phone, presses call and then quickly hangs up. They’ll make the call in the morning when the department opens. Steve mentions that a smuggling operation definitely falls under the purview of Five-0 and promises Grace that they’ll keep her informed when they find out what it is. 

Sliding back down the wall, Danny rubs a hand over his face. “Well I don’t know what it is,” he admits. “Hopefully the wildlife officers at the department or the zoo will have some kind of alert about a smuggling operation or something.”

“Maybe,” Steve says distractedly, careful not to disturb Grace who has fallen asleep against his shoulder. The animal is starting to wake up, to uncurl its body. 

Danny looks at it then at the empty laundry bag. “Maybe it was in my bag because it likes to sleep somewhere dark. Hey,” he leans forward and looks under the bench. “I thought you said you were throwing the broken box away?”

“I did.”

“Well you missed some.” Danny pushes off the wall and stretches forward, scooping up a handful, about half of the remains from the corner next to the hot water heater. “Wait. What is this?” He holds out the rubbish to Steve who takes it in his hand. 

Memories, decades old, come rushing back to him and he almost drops the mess all over his lap. “Grace,” he shakes his arm to wake her up, her head bouncing gently on his bicep. 

“Mmm what?” She mumbles and tries to burrow back into Steve’s shirt. 

“Grace wake up,” the tone of Steve’s voice has her instantly alert and she looks at him, afraid. 

“What’d I do?” 

“Nothing. You’re not in trouble,” he assures her but his voice is still tight. 

“Okay.” She looks skeptically between the men.

“Grace, did you find a small box in the rock trunk, about the size of a football and a rock inside like a big coconut?”

Grace frowns. “Yeah. It was weird though. It didn’t really feel like a rock.”

“Did it feel like leather?”

“Yeah!” she nods. 

“Like this?” Steve holds up his hand and shows her the fragments from under the bench. Grace reaches out and gently touches one, caressing her finger over the broken curve.

“Yeah. Oh no,” she panics and looks up at him. “Did the detergent ruin your rock? I’m so sorry, Steve.”

“Grace. Grace, calm down,” Danny rubs his hand on her back. “Monkey, I think what Steve is trying to tell us, in his usual oblique way, is that that was not a rock you found.”

“It wasn’t?” She looks at Steve’s hands again. “I guess it doesn’t really look or feel like a rock. Where did it come from?”

“I posted it home from… Overseas,” he says cautiously. “I’m sorry I can’t say exactly where. I hoped it would cheer my dad up because they were trying to make him retire.”

“Wait, you threw out twenty year old stamps from Somewheresecretistan?” Danny blurts out. “Do you know how much they would be worth?”

“Not the point, Danny.”

“Still, you should get them out of the bin in the morning.”

“Whatever. Grace, do you remember when you were playing in the palms around the back and you found the empty gecko egg shells?”

She nods. “Yeah they were cool. Wait. You mean?” She looks at the laundry basket where the creature is definitely waking, starting to stretch its legs in the first rays of sun that peek in through the open end of the nook. 

“No way.”

Steve nods. “Yes way.”

“You mean that giant thing is just a baby?”

Danny bangs his head against the wall. “Oh my god. _You’re_ the smuggler. You thought you were sending home a stupid rock and you send home some freaky desert lizard that can stay dormant for decades until it hatches.”

“Why did it hatch now?” Grace wonders.

“Probably because someone left it next to the hot water heater.”

“Oh,” she says guiltily. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Monkey.” Danny pulls her onto his lap. “It’s Steve’s fault. It’s always Steve’s fault.” 

The animal lifts its head and turns on the spot, padding about like a cat searching for a resting place. 

“Um, Danno,” Grace watches, wild eyed, as it stretches.

“I see, I see.”

“It’s got…”

“I know.” He turns to Steve who is staring transfixed at their captive.

“Don’t.”

“Steven.”

“Don’t say it, Danny.”

“What the _hell_ did you find, Steve?” Danny asks half confused and half angry. 

“I don’t know,” he swallows.

The animal makes a squeaky, grunty little sound and pounces on a shadow that flits through its cage. As it jumps, it stretches its tiny, black wings.


	8. Chapter 8

“For god’s sake, will you sit down before you wear a track in the rug. It’s antique.”

Danny stops by the French doors, turns in place and shoots a look at his partner which actually makes the former special ops man flinch. 

“You… I can’t even…” Danny frowns. “Don’t.”

“I think you broke Danno.”

“I’m not broken, Grace.” He resumes his pacing back and forth between the doors and the dining room table. “I’m angry. Very, very angry.”

“It’s not my fault.”

Danny sighs. “I know that, Steven. It’s not like you planned this.” He pauses. 

“I didn’t,” Steve insists. 

“I’m just, I don’t know, overwhelmed with the implications of this.”

“But we’re keeping him, right?” Grace asks.

“We can’t keep it,” Danny shakes his head, emphasizing the distanced, non attached gender neutral pronoun. “What do we feed it? We don’t know how big it will get. I assume you never saw a big ass black dragon flying around when you were wherever the hell it was you found the egg?”

Steve shakes his head. “No. Not that I’d be allowed to tell you if I had.”

“Not the time, Steven.”

“Sorry,” Steve at least looks contrite. “But we can’t call the department until we have the answers to some of these questions. They’ll just put it down.”

“Well,” Danny looks at Grace, knows he’s going to meet so much resistance it’s going to be painful. “I hate to say this…”

“No, Danno!” her eyes go wide. “No, please. Don’t call them.”

“We have to. What if it gets away and becomes an invasive species?”

“There’s only one,” Grace defends. “How could it make babies?”

“We don’t know how it breeds. And we do not in fact _know_ that it’s the only one. Nobody else knows about _this_ one.”

“So you think there is a top secret population of covert dragons in Hawaii, just waiting to break free from their human controllers and take over the island?”

“Did you not see Jurassic Park?”

“Ok, point. But. Really, Danny. Do you think there is any way there are others like it out there and we haven’t heard about it? It’s a small island. You can’t wipe out on the North Shore without the man who runs the hotdog stand outside the Palace hearing about it.”

“Which brings me to reason number two we can’t keep a _dragon as a pet_. We won’t be able to keep this a secret for long. We don’t know how big it will grow. Where will it live? What will it eat? What if it tries to eat _us_ or the postman or it hurts someone?”

Steve frowns. These questions are harder to dispense with. “Okay, I don’t have all the answers right now, Danny.”

“Thank you for admitting that.”

“Maybe it will like tuna,” Grace suggests. “Or sausages. Our dog in New Jersey liked sausages.”

“We just don’t know Grace,” Danny sighs. “I just can’t see any scenario where this turns out to be a good thing.”

“You said that about moving to Hawaii,” she mumbles sadly. “He only hatched because of me. He’s mine and I want to keep him.”

“Stop calling it ‘him’. We don’t know that it is a him. Or a her. We don’t know anything about it. And it only hatched because you neglected to pack something away properly and a chain of events conspired to create the conditions required for his hatching. That is in no way a glowing recommendation that you are at all prepared to care for a pet, let alone a dragon! I have to fight to get you to clean Mr Hoppy’s litter and as wretched as the little furball is, he’s not likely to _eat your arm_.”

Grace pouts. “His poo stinks and I don’t like it.”

“What do you think dragon poo will small like? Flowers?” Danny is starting to get agitated with her. “We have to be reasonable about this. I’m sorry Grace.”

“But...”

Steve stands up from his seat at the table and crosses his arms. “I don’t know why we’re even arguing about this. It’s my house. My egg. Our dragon stays.”

“Oh no, Steven,” Danny leans on the chair across the table and looks Steve in the eye. “Your house, your egg, _your_ dragon. You do this and when, not if, when it all goes FUBAR, it’s 100% on you.”

“Whatever. Look, we - I - can always…” he looks furtively at Grace, “Y’know, _deal with it_ later if I have to.”

Danny nods. “Would you though? You’ll get attached. You get attached to firearms. You’ll name it and feed it and you won’t want to _deal with it_.”

“I’ve done worse.”

Danny takes a deep breath. He doesn’t even want to begin to consider what the ‘worse’ might consist of. “Fine. Since it seems I have no say in this anyway. Keep your damn dragon.”

Grace cheers and Steve resists the urge to high five her. He honestly thought this would be a lot harder and take a lot longer than it has. 

“I need some air,” Danny runs his hands through his hair. “And a glass of scotch and about twenty hours sleep and I have no idea about the order in which I want them. So I’m going for a walk.” He looks at Steve. “Watch Grace?”

“Of course.”

“And Grace?”

“I won’t let Steve do anything dangerous while you’re gone, Danno.”

“And promise me; don’t go near that thing until I get back. No trying to pet it or teach it to fetch or anything until I return.”

Steve nods. “No interacting with the dragon. You’re the backup. Got it.”

“I hate you so much right now,” Danny warns his partner, for once not kidding. “I will be back.”

As soon as the door closes behind her father, Grace turns to Steve with a huge grin on her face. 

“So,” he draws the word out thoughtfully. “What should we name him?”

* * *  
An hour later, crashing and swearing from the lanai herald Danny’s return. When he eventually steps through the doors, Steve starts choking on his breakfast, spraying little chunks of oatmeal across the table. Grace thumps him on the back and pushes her juice towards his hand.

“What the hell is that?” he asks finally, clearing his throat and taking a large gulp of the juice to wash the sticky residue down. “It’s a little early to start dinner, isn’t it?”

Danny looks down at himself. “I thought it might be wise to ensure protection until we know what that… thing… is capable of.” He just cannot bring himself to say ‘the dragon’. Not yet anyway.

“You look ridiculous.”

If it were anyone else dressed in pajama pants and a t-shirt under a brown leather BBQ apron, Danny would be inclined to agree. As it is his soft flesh that is facing imminent biting, he doesn’t find it so silly. He merely scowls at his mockers and draws the BBQ tongs from their place on the belt around his waist. This unfortunately dissolves Steve and Grace into uncontrollable laughter and he realizes that he is the only grown up left in the house.

With a huff, Danny storms past and around into the kitchen. Steve sits back up straight and watches him leave, captivated by the way the belt draws in Danny’s waist and adds to the prominent swell of his ass. ‘ _Get a grip_ ,’ he tells himself. These are not thoughts he should be thinking about his partner. Even, or maybe especially, when he looks like an extra from a Monty Python movie.

“He won’t hurt ‘Uke, will he?” Grace frowns. “Danno doesn’t like him.”

Danny’s thumping stops and his head reappears back around the wall.

“Oops,” Grace covers her mouth, wide eyed.

“You named it?”

Steve swallows. “We did.”

“I warned you about this Steve,” Danny waves the tongs threateningly.

“It’s not proper for it to be here, for us to expect it to ‘behave’ and find out about it, if someone insists on calling it ‘that thing’.”

“Having a name never seemed to control your Neanderthal ways,” Danny points out and Steve crosses his arms. 

“I’m not fighting about this, Danny.”

“His name is ‘Uke,” Grace supplies.

“And what, pray, does that mean?” Danny leans on the door frame and looks at the ceiling. “No, let me guess. Mo’o is lizard so it’s not that. Dragon is too obvious.” He narrows his eyes at Steve and considers, “Even you wouldn’t find it amusing to name that thing Fluffy.”

Steve tenses.

“Oh god. Really? You named the dragon _Fluffy_?”

“No, Daddy,” Grace grins. “Flea.”

He lets his head bang on the wall. “Why me. Really. This crap just keeps happening,” he holds up the tongs before Steve can insist that it’s not this exact thing, finding a dragon in the laundry, hasn’t happened before. 

"Flea? Really?" Danny sighs. "Why did you have to call that thing flea?"

Steve shrugs. "Because Hawaiian doesn't have a word for dragon."


	9. Chapter 9

After surprisingly little argument, they decide the best place to get a feel for the animal is in the large dining room, doors closed and antique carpet rolled up and leaning out of harm’s way in the corner. Once they convince Grace that they really won’t be doing anything at all until she is safely upstairs, Steve and Danny reverse the process of that morning, removing most of the weights from the basket and sliding a piece of plywood underneath, the dragon hissing at it initially but then stepping carefully up when it has no choice. Together, they carry the whole assembly inside and place it in the middle of the dining room, remove the last weight from the top and stand back. 

Nothing happens at first. The dragon remains crouched in the furthest corner of the basket, looking warily at its new surroundings and the people watching it. Danny, still in the apron, was at least able to be convinced that approaching the creature with long, shiny BBQ tongs was just asking for trouble and the two men are doing their best to appear non-threatening. 

“Can I come down yet?” Grace calls from the stairs.

“No,” Danny snaps.

Steve puts his arm on Danny’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, Danny.”

“She’s not coming down until we know it won’t hurt her,” Danny insists. 

“I know that. But you need to calm down or you’re going to freak it out.” He nods at the basket.

“Fine,” Danny huffs. “You can’t come down just yet, Monkey,” he says in a sickly sweet voice. “We will let you know, okay?”

“Okay, that was just creepy,” Steve laughs. 

The dragon’s head snaps up, tilting sideways like a curious puppy. 

“Oh hey,” Steve chuckles deliberately, taking a step forward and crouching down. “You like that better than being groused at, don’t you?” he smiles.

“Are you nuts? Get back before it sets you on fire or something.”

“Don’t be stupid, Danny. I am sure it can not make fire.”

“Yeah, well, twelve hours ago, I was sure that dragons were not real so…”

“Okay, fair point,” Steve doesn’t get up. “You’ve got the BBQ apron on, you come closer then.”

“Not on your life.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Ignore him,” he says to the dragon. “He’s from the mainland and has less sense of adventure than an arthritic, seventy year old woman.”

The dragon tilts its head again and takes a tentative step forward.

“That’s it,” Steve says soothingly. “You can come out. We won’t hurt you.” He ignores Danny’s snort from behind. “We won’t.”

The dragon takes the last step across the basket and presses its nose to the side, sniffing in Steve’s direction. With a nudge, it pushes its head against the edge and moves the basket closer. Steve shuffles forward on his knees until the basket is just a couple of feet away and reaches out slowly. 

“I’m just gonna lift this up a bit, okay?” he says calmly, realizing that the animal won’t be understanding his words but definitely seems to respond to his tone of voice. “You don’t have to come out until you are ready.” He reaches out and raises the edge of the basket a few inches. 

The dragon cowers back but soon realizes what it is being offered and sticks its nose under, lifting the basket high enough to squeeze under. In an excited flurry, it rushes forward and leaps at Steve, landing squarely on his chest, causing him to fall backwards. It takes all of Danny’s self control not to go rushing to his aid but the animal isn’t going for the jugular at this point. 

Steve cranes his neck up and looks the creature in the eye. “Hi,” he grins, raising a hand between his face and its muzzle.

The dragon tilts its head and stretches its neck, slowly pushing its nose into Steve’s palm, rubbing back and forth and closing its eyes. Danny lets out a slow breath and sighs. There’ll probably be no getting rid of the damn thing now. He slips out of the room and leaves the two of them to get to know each other.

* * *  
The rest of the day passes with surprising speed despite the lack of sleep the night before. Danny goes upstairs to get Grace, explaining that she needs to approach the animal the same way as she has been taught to approach dogs. Slow, calm and confident seem to be working for Steve and Danny can only hope that the thing doesn’t see Grace as some kind of threat or an easy target compared to a couple of hundred pounds of SEAL. He tells her that she absolutely has to take her lead from Steve and do everything he says. He makes her promise before he will let her go downstairs.

After an hour or so where Steve and Grace sit on the floor, talking quietly with each other and the dragon, Danny gives the nod for Grace to hold her hand out with Steve’s guidance. The dragon waits for a few moments, long enough to make Danny grow tense and he’s about to move Grace back when the animal forges the offered palm. ‘Uke simply steps into Grace’s crossed legs and settles in her lap. 

Now, in the early evening, Danny is sitting in the shade of the house watching Grace introduce ‘her’ dragon to the lay of the yard, safely secured in a makeshift harness. She keeps stopping every few steps to let him sniff and is showing more patience than Danny thought she had in her considering that the other end of the carefully knotted rope in her hand is tied to a dragon. 

“Here,” Steve holds out a fresh mug of coffee and Danny takes it gratefully. “Thought we’d stick to this tonight.”

“Thanks,” Danny smiles as he takes a large, welcome sip of the hot brew. 

Steve settles into the chair beside his partner. “They seem to be getting along pretty well.”

Danny snorts. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

“I still can’t believe that we…” 

Danny frowns at him.

“Fine,” Steve shakes his head. “Can’t believe that _I_ have a dragon.”

“Yeah, well I hope you realize that short of giving her a sparkly rainbow unicorn for her birthday, you just became pretty much the coolest person ever.”

“What? No way, Danno,” Steve laughs. “Dragons are way cooler than unicorns.”

“Never in my life did I think I would hear a grown man say that,” Danny sighs. “And you also realize that you didn’t just get stuck with a dragon today?” Danny puts down his mug, balancing it on the arm of the chair, and turns to Steve. “Because I am warning you now. She is going to demand to come here every, single time I have custody, Steve.”

Steve shrugs. “So? You guys end up staying here half the times you visit anyway.”

“Well she’s going to want to be here _all_ the time.”

“You said that.”

“Yeah, but it means that Grace will…”

“Danny!” Steve doesn’t mean it to come out so snappy and takes a quick breath to calm himself. “Come as much as you want, okay? It’s fine. More than fine. Really.”

“Okay then.”

Steve nods. “Okay then.”

Danny picks up his coffee again and takes a long sip, watching Steve watch the dragon follow Grace before stopping in front of a large vine by the lanai post. There’s a look on his partner’s face that Danny can only describe as happy and he can’t help but wonder if this was part of the reason Steve had fought so hard to convince him to keep the dragon. Not that he actually needs Danny’s permission. Before he has the chance to think too much on it, Grace comes over to them holding a large stick, the dragon trailing behind her.

“Uh, Steve how much do brooms cost?”

“About $10, why?”

“Well I get $5 a week from Danno from doing chores,” she says thoughtfully. “Mom would just give me the money if I ask for it but it doesn’t seem right.”

“Grace, honey. Why are you asking this?” Danny frowns. 

“Well, because,” she holds up the stick and they see that it is actually the blackened remains of Steve’s wooden broom handle, “'Uke hiccoughed and the broom caught fire,” she explains.


	10. Chapter 10

Life with a dragon turns out to be not that much different than life without one, whatever Danny says. It turns out that Grace’s suggestion of tuna as a food source is not that far off with 'Uke enjoying both fish and meat based cat foods as well as some vegetables. They learn the hard way that one of the few things he does not like is uncooked corn. Does not help endear him to Danny when he spits out several of the tiny, yellow pieces and rubs his saliva all over the leg of Danny’s pants. His clean pants.

Actually, life with a dragon kind of resembles life with a dog. At first they set up a small nest in the corner of the kitchen, Steve suspending a halogen light over it by an elaborate construction over one of the cupboard doors. They have no way to know for sure that the dragon is exothermic but Grace insists that it is better to keep him warm, just in case. He sleeps there when Grace is with her mother but on the nights she is with Danny, and they inevitably end up at Steve’s, 'Uke sleeps at the foot of her bed. 

Much to Danny’s disgust, the dragon’s second favorite place to sleep is wherever the detective is. He learns this after only three days with the animal. Steve decides to let 'Uke have free run to explore the inside of the house on a day when Grace isn’t there to follow him around. At first the animal is tentative, sniffing and nudging at things with his head before moving on to the next new object. For some reason, still unknown, he takes great objection to the umbrella stand by the front door and the offending item has to be moved outside on the porch. 

Later in the afternoon, Danny drops by to gloat after what he is sure has been a morning of destruction. He’s disappointed to find Steve working quietly on his laptop with 'Uke curled up under the dining room table. There don’t appear to be any new scorch marks and nothing obvious is broken. Steve, with more self control than Danny has seen him show previously, simply smiles smugly and turns back to his computer. Danny huffs and leaves him to it, getting beer from the fridge and going into the living room to watch the game. Two hours later, he wakes up from an unplanned a nap on the couch to find the heavy, black animal curled up and fast asleep on his chest like an overgrown cat. A very heavy cat. Steve denies there are photos but Danny is sure that if he searches the other man’s phone he will find some. Probably encrypted.

He crashed at Steve’s one night when Grace was not with him, but refused to let 'Uke into his room. By morning, there was a row of claw marks across the spare bedroom door from the animal trying to get in.

'Uke grows quickly and soon he can’t comfortably fit his box in the kitchen. When he is no longer small dog sized but more like a large Labrador, they make a new, bigger bed for him and Grace suggests that he might like the corner under the stairs as it is dark and quiet and out of the main traffic of the house. The poetry of this is one of the few parts of Life with The Dragon that Danny can find nothing to complain about and the animal happily pads a circle around his new digs before settling in for a nap. 

As Danny had predicted the very first day he and Grace now spend almost every minute of his custody at Steve’s. He has to admit that her interest in the animal has not waned as it did with Mr. Hoppy and Grace is more than pulling her weight in contributing to 'Uke’s care. Even when it was her turn to perform the dreaded poop duty. She is even working with Steve on the task of training ‘Uke to respond to specific commands and Danny is impressed with the patience his daughter is showing. She loves the challenge and he suspects the extra time with Steve is also a big part of the draw. 

In fact, the only things that can pull her away from ‘her’ dragon, and really there is no surprise there, are going to the beach where she is learning to surf and her Aloha Girls meetings.

After first short session was successful, the girls are excited to have Steve and Danny return. After a strategy meeting with Angela, the adults decide that they should go over the skills the girls were supposed to have learned on their recent patches, just to make sure they are all able to do them. The leaders hope it will only take a couple of months and then the group will move onto new things.

Since they had been so successful the week before, the first official meeting with the newest two leaders focuses on knot tying. The girls are pretty fast at picking up the various knots and variations and they all think that it’s hilarious when Steve changes the words to the story that goes along with tying a bowline. Instead of the bunny and tree reminder used by previous generations of scouts, Grace’s troop learns that the dragon comes out of his cave, around the mountain and back into his cave again. They can all tie the difficult knot in less than half an hour. Danny glares the whole time. 

They go through the other patches and also do a refresher of the basic first aid because the girls want to start the advanced parch soon. 

Now that 'Uke is two months old and as tall as and even broader than a fully-grown Great Dane. His head sits level with Danny’s chest and he’s pretty sure he’s seen Grace eyeing the animal; almost as if she is calculating whether or not she could get away with trying to sit on him. He’s should probably hide How to Train Your Dragon, just in case. Steve decides that he is too big to be left indoors all day.

“It’s not fair on him to be cooped up,” Steve sighs, watching the animal stalk across the grass after a gecko before dashing into the house when Grace calls him. 

Danny takes a sip of his beer. “Well you can’t very well let him loose in the yard. What if a neighbor sees?”

“I know, Danny,” Steve gets up and walks into the study, Danny following and finding him standing with a sheet of paper in his hands. “ That’s why I want to make something he can be tied to but still secure.”

Danny takes the paper and looks it over. The plan seems to involve several long chains which make a network of runs about the yard. “This is pretty big, Steve.” 

“Well, I had considered a giant aviary to enclose the back yard,” Steve shrugs. “But that might be more obvious to the neighbors and we’d probably need planning permission to build it. I wouldn’t want to put up an unauthorized structure.”

“As opposed to the leader of the state taskforce having a secret, illegal, smuggled reptile for a pet?”

“Right.”

Danny shakes his head, resting his butt on the arm of the recliner. “It’s going to be a lot of work but if you want to do it, who am I to stop you? You seem to forget that it’s your house, your money, your yard that is going to have more chain in it than a medieval dungeon. And it’s your stupid dragon.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” Steve looks pointedly at 'Uke and Grace running up the stairs, the dragon scuttling up top rail before swinging upside down and tackling his playmate on the landing outside Steve’s room. 

“Fine. Your stupid dragon that is sort of co-cared for by my corrupted offspring,” he says grumpily, like this happening wasn’t inevitable from the start. 

“Stop bringing her, then,” Steve scowls. “Tell her you don’t want to come here. Tell her how much you hate the stupid dragon that you refuse to call by the name that your daughter chose for it.” 

“I’m not that mean, Steve.”

“Then stop fucking complaining about it all the time,” Steve slams his Longboard on the coffee table and gets up off the sofa. “I didn’t ask for this, Danny. I didn’t deliberately find an egg two decades ago and post it home on the off chance that one day, my father would be murdered and I would meet you in the garage of my childhood home. Contrary to what you seem to think, I didn’t orchestrate this elaborate scheme with the sole purpose of pissing you off, okay?” He grabs the beer roughly, storms out of the room and through the back doors. 

Danny sighs. He knows he has been difficult about this whole situation but hadn’t realized how much of an ass he was turning into. Or how hurtful he had become towards his best friend. Before all this, he thought he knew Steve almost as well as he knew himself. Despite the way he throws the word classified around when you ask about his former career, in most other aspects of his life, Danny can read Steve like a book. Or could. Right now though, he does not have the first clue whether he should follow after the angered man or give him time to cool off. 

“Danno?” 

Danny’s head whips up to see Grace looking timidly over the top railing of the stairs, 'Uke peeking out beside her feet. 

“Uh,” he swallows guiltily. “I don’t suppose you were playing in your room and missed all that?” 

She shakes her head. “No. We heard it all,” she says sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” he frowns. “Grace, Babe, come down here a minute, okay?” 

She nods and slowly trudges down to him, perching on the edge of the coffee table in front of the couch. 'Uke follows, licking away the ring of condensation Steve’s beer left on the coaster, before flopping at Grace’s feet. 

“Grace, why are you apologizing?” Danny asks gently. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

She shrugs and won’t meet his eye. 

“Grace,” he speaks more firmly this time. “I need you to be honest with me. Please.”

“It’s just…” her voice cracks and she launches forward into his arms, if he didn’t know her so well as to expect it she would have ended up in a pile on the floor. She spends the next minute sobbing unintelligibly into his shirt and although Danny can’t tell a word of what she is saying, he feels that she obviously needs to let something off her chest and decides to just let her get it out. When she takes a deep, sloppy sniff and a shuddering breath, looking up at him with tear streaked cheeks, Danny figures she is done. 

“Okay, I’m going to be honest with you, Monkey,” he says soothingly. “That was a lot to take in so I’m going to need you to go slower for me, okay? Start from the beginning.”

“I don’t want you and Steve to fight because of me.”

Danny frowns. “We aren’t fighting.”

“You’re always fighting.”

“Well. Okay. We are always fighting but we don’t mean it. Most of the time.” 

“Steve swore at you. He never swears when I am here,” she states her evidence as if it were ironclad, her surety that the slip in the adult’s conduct in her presence showed that something was wrong. 

“He just snapped, that’s all,” Danny rubs his daughter’s back in soothing circles and wonders how he can fix this. “We had a pretty rough week at work and I just wanted to relax this weekend and now Steve is talking about starting some monumental building task in the yard to make a better home for 'Uke and…”

“And what, Danno?”

“And I think I complained one time too many.”

“Oh.” Grace frowns thoughtfully, chewing her bottom lip in the exact same way her mother always did when deliberating a situation. “You need to go and say sorry then.” 

“I don’t think it’s that easy, Grace.”

She nods vigorously. “Yes it is. If you are sorry it is that easy.”

“How’d you get so smart,” Danny pulls her into a tight hug and rubs his cheek on her soft hair. He’ll always wonder how he lucked out getting such a smart kid; he sure doesn’t think he deserves it most days. 

“Just lucky I guess,” she smiles. “And we don’t have to come here so much,” she says seriously. “If you don’t want to be here then we don’t have to be. I know you don’t like 'Uke. Mommy doesn’t like Mr. Hoppy so he has to live outside. It’s harder when you have to keep your pet a secret so… It’s okay if we just come and visit some of the time.”

Danny’s throat tightens and he has to swallow before he can speak. “I don’t hate him,” he assures her. “I don’t really know what to do with him or for him or about him. It’s not like finding a stray puppy on the side of the road, Grace. I just don’t know what is going to happen with him and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“So you’re mean to him? To keep yourself from liking him?”

“Uh… Yeah. I guess.” How is it possible that his eleven year old daughter has been able to work out what has been going on inside his head for the last eight week when he hasn’t. 

“I like 'Uke. A lot. And I think he likes us back,” Grace looks up at him solemnly and takes a deep breath. “I don’t think it matters how big he gets or what he likes to do so long as it doesn’t hurt people. He does what we tell him and he seems smart. But if he gets dangerous, I know he will have to go away.”

“You do?”

She nods. “Yes. Steve told me on the very first day when we found ‘Uke that he promised you he’d keep me safe. He warned me that if 'Uke ever, ever looked like we couldn’t control him anymore, then he would have to put him down.”

“And, uh…” Danny swallows. “You know what that means, right?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m twelve, Dad. Of course I know what it means.”

“And you’re okay with this?”

“Not okay, exactly. But. I don’t think we will need to worry about it. He’s not dangerous. Except when he accidentally sets things on fire but he’s getting better at that. He hardly smoked at all this week.”

Danny looks down at the creature sitting by their feet. It tilts its head and looks back at him, almost as if it understood every word of the somewhat morbid conversation. As if it knew it had to be on its best behavior. 

“Well, okay then.” Danny pulls her into another hug and squeezes before gently nudging her off his lap and standing himself. “You two go back to your room and do,” he looks at the stairs, “Whatever it was that you were doing. I’m going to go and talk to Steve.”

“Be nice.”

“Hey, I’m always nice.”

Grace doesn’t answer.


	11. Chapter 11

Danny shakes his head at his smart, cheeky daughter and takes the long way out the back, stopping in the kitchen to grab two more beers and heading out through the side door through the laundry. Where all this started. He can hardly believe everything that has happened since they were woken suddenly two months ago. It has been a lot for him to get used to and he can see now that he has been taking it out on Steve.

He sees his friend standing at the end of the garden, looking out at the ocean that he loves so much. As Danny crosses the lawn to where grass drops away to sand, he notices Steve’s shoulders tighten almost imperceptibly. Like the other man is bracing for an impending confrontation. It’s this more than anything that shows Danny what an ass he has been these last two months, that Steve’s default response is to brace for the worst.

“Hey,” he says softly, holding out one of the beers for Steve. He doesn’t know where the other one, the one Steve brought out with him, has ended up but this one is cold.

Steve takes it without reply and twists the top off, taking a long sip. Danny realizes that Steve’s not going to go easy on him and it's up to him to get this going. He supposes that’s only fair since he is the one that started it. It’s time to stop complaining and be honest about what’s been bothering him so much.

“I, uh, maybe just got a pretty stern talking to from my daughter,” Danny says sheepishly. “About what a jackass I have been to you lately.”

“She send you out here to apologize?”

“Um. Yes,” Danny admits. “If it were up to me I’d be in my car, halfway back to my own apartment, and pretending that there isn’t a three and a half foot tall reptile in my best friend’s living room.”

“Well then, why aren’t you?”

Danny shrugs. “Because you’re my best friend and I don’t want to leave with this hanging between us. That and my Dad always taught me not to drive angry.

“Go on.”

“It hasn’t gone as bad as I thought it would,” Danny admits. “I thought your house would have caught fire by now. Or someone would be in the hospital with burns. Or any one of a hundred other things that could go wrong when someone is hiding a dragon in their house.”

“You hate him.”

Danny sighs. “Grace said the same thing. I don’t hate him.”

Steve snorts into his beer. 

“I don’t. Really,” Danny protests, repeating what he just told Grace. “There were, are, just so many unknowns and…” he pauses to collect his thoughts. “I’m scared, okay?”

At this, Steve actually turns his head to look at his friend. “Of what?”

“It’s a _dragon_ , Steve.”

“So? We are training it. He hasn’t hurt anyone. He’s gentle as anything.”

“Yeah. Well, I can’t help but think that it’s only a matter of time,” Danny admits. “Like how suddenly a tiger in a zoo turns on its keeper. Or Shamu eats his trainer. But,” he hedges.

Steve makes a ‘please continue,’ motion with his hand and Danny takes a fortifying breath.

“I have to admit, you’re doing a good job with it.”

“How much did it hurt to say that?” Steve raises an eyebrow at the unexpected compliment. 

Danny holds his hand up, thumb and forefinger a couple of inches apart and Steve laughs. 

“But things seem to be going alright. I don’t know, maybe you have a talent for reforming strays. I’m not from around here either but you did alright making it a home for me so maybe, just maybe, you can make it work for the dra… for 'Uke too.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything, Steve. It’s me. I am sorry I have not been helpful at all. I am sorry I actively made this harder for you.”

“Why?”

“Why am I sorry?”

“Why did you do it?”

“Because I couldn’t see any way for this to go that didn’t end with my daughter in tears and you having to shoot your pet because it ate someone.”

“Oh.”

“And I didn’t think you were taking my very valid concerns seriously. And it seemed like you just jumped headlong into owning a dragon like you do every other situation you get yourself into. Only you aren’t trained for this and I didn’t think you were giving it the consideration it deserved.”

Steve sighs and sits on the edge of the grass, pushing his toes into the sand below. “Well to be honest, I probably wasn’t. I mean he’s getting kind of big.”

“Kind of?”

“Okay it could be a problem. I don’t know how much longer we can keep him a secret.”

Danny wedges his beer into the sand and sits beside his partner on the grass. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose.”

“ _We_ will?” Steve asks in surprise.

“Yeah. We will. The three of us. Because, seriously, good luck getting rid of Grace. Ever.”

Steve chuckles. “I wouldn’t want to.”

They sit in silence for a while, watching the waves lap against the rough sand. The tide is going out and crabs are scurrying back and forth, searching for food deposited by the retreating water. Danny wonders how he hasn’t realized how much he loves it here, in this house. Until now.

“You know,” he says thoughtfully. “I sent Grace up to her room just now.”

“So?”

“So it really is _her_ room. You let her paint it and everything. I’m sure you’d have taken her to Ikea to completely outfit it if she hadn’t been in love with everything in there.”

“No I wouldn’t.”

“Would too.”

“Would not. There is no Ikea in Hawaii, Danny.”

“There… What?” He frowns. “How did I not know this?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I was sure that you’d have added it to the long, long list of things lacking about Hawaii ages ago. There must be dozens of them in New Jersey.”

“Two. There’s at least one in Pennsylvania that we went to once when something Rachel wanted was out of stock in Elizabeth. Then there’s the one in Brooklyn which you do not go to. Ever. Unless you are a hipster yuppie with a studio apartment and a hairless cat.”

“What?”

“Long story,” Danny shudders. “The point is. You made a place for her, for us, here. If anyone can make a home dragon-friendly, it’s going to be you.” He turns and looks across the yard, back towards the house. “So. You want to build the giant kennel over there?” 

“Yeah, I’ve done some research and you don’t need permission for a shed normally but the house is listed so I wanted to check. I found some papers in the desk and it seems that my dad was planning to build a garden room down here, don’t ask me why, so it’s actually already approved.”

“Well that will make it easier,” Danny nods. “I wonder why he did that? An entire house to himself and two spare rooms wasn’t enough?” 

“I honestly have no idea,” Steve shrugs. They sit a while longer, Steve asks if Grace is okay after overhearing their fight. Danny says that he thinks she understands it wasn’t really about them but the trouble he’s had accepting ‘Uke and the changes he’s brought to their lives. 

“She went back up to her room with him when I came out.”

Steve looks at his partner, his friend, mulling something over in his mind. Ordinarily, despite how reckless Danny often accuses him of being, he would take time to make a decision such as this. But the last five minutes have set in Steve’s mind something he’s been thinking about for a while now. 

“Danny, about the spare room.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want it to be a spare room anymore.”

“You don’t?” Danny frowns. 

“No. I have something else in mind for it.”

Danny tries not to look too dejected. “Oh,” he sighs. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. ‘Uke is always under foot and until we get his house built out here, it’s probably better for him to have somewhere bigger to sleep than under the stairs or next to Grace’s bed.”

“What?”

“You want me to take the couch again so ‘Uke can go in the spare room?”

“No!” Steve laughs. “God you’re dense sometimes, Danny.”

“Hey.”

“I don’t want it to be ‘spare’ anymore. I want you to think of it as your room. Grace has hers, purple walls and everything. She belongs here now and so do you.”

“Wow,” Danny smirks, shaking his head. “Who knew getting a reptile was what you needed to improve mammal to mammal communications.”

“Is that a yes,” Steve asks hopefully.

“Yes it’s a yes,” Danny laughs. “What the hell, I’m here almost all the time anyway.”

“True.”

“And mostly yes because your cable subscription is way better than mine.”

“Sure,” Steve snorts. “You love it here and you know it.”

Danny laughs. “Yeah,” he smiles at his friend. “Maybe I do.”

 

* * * 

Danny tells Rachel the next day when he takes Grace back after dinner. He’s expecting objections, calling him nomadic and unstable or worse. He’s almost confused when she just nods, smiles, reminds him to make sure his emergency contact details for Grace’s school remain up to date. She even asks if he thinks it’s a good idea to give them Steve’s cell number too, in case Danny is ever caught at work on a day when he has custody.

The only other holdup might be getting out of his lease early but when Danny speaks to his landlord, the other man is pleased because his nephew wants to move out of home and the apartment will be perfect for him. He slaps Danny cheerfully on the back and, to Danny’s confusion, congratulates him heartily. 

Danny really doesn’t get what all the fuss is about but knows when not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

All his things are moved in by the end of the week.


	12. Chapter 12

The girls had long since mastered the basic knots and truly earned their patches. Steve never had any intention of taking them from the girls, that was not the point of the exercise. Instead he wanted them to be getting real, valuable skills from their time in the Aloha Girls. After the knots and brushing up on the basic first aid, he suggested to them that they do their woodworking patch and thought that he had the perfect project in mind. After gaining the appropriate permission from the girls’ parents, they had them drop them at his house for the weekly meeting instead of the community hall. 

“If I had known I could get free house repairs out of this, I wouldn’t have let go of my own place,” Danny jokes as the last girl is dropped off by her mom. He laughs to himself when the woman offers to stay and make snacks and help out however she can. It would seem a more genuine offer if her eyes didn’t flit to Steve every other sentence. Luckily for everyone, Amy protests and her mom is sent on her way. 

“Okay,” Steve claps his hands excitedly and the girls gather around him. He’s dressed in old jeans and t-shirt with a leather construction belt hung around his hips. There’s a table set up under the trees at the side of the yard with nine hammers and other assorted hand tools laid out like a surgical tray. “Today we’re making a start on your woodworking patch. Now, we could build something lame like a pencil box or a bird house but do we want to do that?”

He’s answered with a chorus of no’s and one boo which he’s pretty sure comes from Grace, who as the only one who knows the true intent of the new structure, chuckles when Steve describes it as a ‘bird house’. 

“I need a new shed to store… stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“That’s classified,” Steve deadpans. “You don’t need to know what it is. But it has to be strong and it has to be weatherproof.”

“Why don’t you just buy a shed from Home Depot?” Caitlyn asks. “It would be faster.”

“Do you want your woodworking patch?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why. Besides I want it to look like part of the house so it will need to be something we can paint and I want a nice roof. This property is listed so the shed design has to match what’s already here. I found out that my Dad already got planning permission for this a while ago, he just never got around to building it.” Steve looks at Danny. “It’s important that it belongs.”

The girls all nod and Steve directs their attention to the table. “These are our tools and our safety equipment. I’m told that it isn’t appropriate for you to be using power saws and drills just yet,” he scowls slightly, “So I’ve already measured and cut the pieces that will be too hard to do by hand.”

Danny coughs a loud, fake choking sound. 

“Sorry, _we’ve_ already measured and cut them. My trusty sidekick gets a little grumpy sometimes.”

The girls giggle and Danny shakes his head. He can’t believe he ever thought Steve was bad with kids. At times he can be inappropriate in tactical content, read explaining how to hunt a wild boar, but more than able to connect. 

“We’re going to start today with the footings and if we have time, the framework for the floor. When it rains a lot, the yard can take a while to drain so we’re going to raise the base up on concrete feet.”

“So it doesn’t rot.”

“Or flood.”

“Right,” Steve smiles proudly. “You guys are going to be great at this, I can tell.” He hands them each a trowel and leads them to the area he’s marked out for the structure. “Okay, let’s get to work.”

After explaining the dimensions for the shed and showing the girls how to measure where to put the holes for the large concrete bricks to drop into, Steve and Danny step back for a while and supervise as the girls dig. 

“How are you going to explain the fact that we are using flame resistant fiber board siding?” Danny asks.

“You think they’ll notice?”

“I think they can read,” Danny nods to the pile of boards, neatly pre-cut and leaning under the cover of the lanai. A1 fire rating is proclaimed several times over on each piece. In very large letters. 

“They’ll probably just assume I want to keep grenades and stuff in it,” Steve shrugs. “You go on about that one incident often enough.”

“You have no idea how much I hate that that is the logical, and less insane, explanation in this particular case,” Danny laughs. 

“Sure you do,” Steve grins. 

After half an hour, Steve calls the girls together and they mark a stick with the intended depth of each hole. They check them one by one and after only a little tweaking, soon have eight equal holes. Steve explains that when they add the concrete, they can adjust the blocks and check them for level. Since they only need a very small amount of concrete, Steve decides to just use a pre-measured bag from the hardware store, showing the girls how to add the right amount of water and mix it. 

“It seems really runny,” Lucy observes as the mix slops from her spade back into the wheelbarrow. 

“When it goes into the ground, some of the water will be absorbed and if the mix is too dry it sets faster than it should,” Steve pushes the wheelbarrow into the middle of the grouping of holes and the girls each take a scoop out. “If we were using bricks or blocks then the mix would be more like icing.”

After another half an hour scooping, heaving in blocks and leveling them with each other, the girls are exhausted but proud of what they’ve accomplished. They’re glad when Steve announces they can do no more today as the light is fading and their parents will start coming soon. Danny suggests that they get a start on the advanced wilderness survival patch by starting a fire in the sand to roast some marshmallows until the parents arrive. The girls cheer and Grace races inside to get a box of matches. 

“Okay, wood pile for the BBQ is over there,” Steve points to the side of the house outside the laundry. “I’m going inside to get the marshmallows. You guys make sure Danny doesn’t follow me and build your fire.” 

When Steve returns a few minutes later, the girls have a roaring fire going and Danny is on the phone up the far side of the house. He hangs up and they meet at the lanai, walking together back down to the girls. 

“Nice job,” Danny nods appreciatively. 

“Yeah,” Steve squints at the flames licking along the firewood. The pile is haphazard and should not have caught so quickly. “Just how many of the matches did you use?”

Grace hands him back the box. “Not many.” The girls giggle and Steve is even more suspicious. He wonders if they’ve already learnt fire starting but Angela had assured them that it wasn’t on the list of things for any of their previous badges. 

“Well. I guess everyone needs a stick and we can get roasting,” Steve gives up and hands the bag around. He’ll work out their special technique later when they get to the real fire starting lessons. 

By the time the last girl has been picked up, they are all happy and warm from the fire and Steve doesn’t have to worry about hiding the marshmallows again. The bag is empty. 

* * *   
Over the next week, Steve and Danny attach the brackets to the footings and get ready for the next Aloha Girls meeting. Since the brackets in the approved plan require some angle grinding, the men decide that it’s better to get it done before the troop arrives. After the concrete sets, they spend each evening for the rest of the week working on it together then eating a simple dinner on the lanai. Steve takes the opportunity to get a start on the chains for 'Uke’s run and cuts a few to length while he has the grinder out. He takes a little longer than he needs because the job requires Danny to entertain 'Uke alone and Steve feels the two need the time to bond. 

Slowly, his plan starts to work. After the revelation that Danny never really hated the animal in the first place but rather the unknown elements involved, he becomes more helpful with the whole dragon situation. Once he is convinced that, for now at least, 'Uke is safe to have around, he agrees that it might be worth actively training him. Since he has so many characteristics of a dog already, right down to slobbery habits, they start with the basics of sitting, heeling, waiting in place and dropping. At first it is a battle, the dragon sits there and looks at Danny like he has sprouted a second head. Even when he tries catching the creature doing the desired behavior naturally and adding in the command, nothing happens. Then Danny realizes he has forgotten the most important element of the training. After that, things change. 

'Uke, it turns out, will do just about anything for a marshmallow. Once this is discovered, after Steve is done laughing, ‘Uke picks up all the basic commands in just a few days. He had always seemed alert and intelligent but this is the first indication that they’ve had of just how clever the animal is. 

One evening later in the week, just before sunset, a couple walks down the beach with their dog. Even though it’s technically still a private beach for the McGarretts, the properties on either side have both been sold at least once in the time Steve’s family have owned the land so he never really bothers with enforcing it. The fact that he is now hiding a dragon makes him reconsider the previous stance but for now there isn’t anything he can do. 

'Uke and Steve are sitting on the upstairs deck and 'Uke watches curiously as the golden retriever bounds in and out of the surf, grabbing a floating tennis ball and bringing it back to its owners several times over. 

The next day, Steve is at the hardware store getting some supplies for the troop meeting tomorrow when 'Uke drops a pineapple at Danny’s feet. The detective can’t help but laugh when he realizes it is the one Steve had bought only the day before because it smelt so ripe and ready to eat. So much for that plan. Danny, who is sitting in the wooden chair by the water, taking a break from bolting in the brackets for the shed looks from the fruit to the dragon and raises an eyebrow. 'Uke sits, waiting expectantly. 

“What’s that for, hey?”

'Uke looks at him then nudges the spiky fruit closer with his head until it is resting against Danny’s work boot. Danny kicks it gently away and it rolls across the grass. 'Uke reaches out with his neck, picks the pineapple up in his mouth and deposits it back at Danny’s feet.

“Huh,” Danny kicks it away again, harder this time, and again 'Uke returns it to him. “Well, this could be fun,” he agrees. “But I’m not going anywhere near those teeth when you get a frond stuck in your gum.” He picks the pineapple up by the end and tosses it into the garden bed behind the shed. Steve can go looking for it later if he’s so desperate for it. “Let’s go see what else Steve has we can use.”

When he returns from the store, Steve finds his partner throwing an old, flat basketball as hard as he can out into the ocean and his dragon splashing in after it. He’s seldom seen Danny smile so freely unless Grace was with him and 'Uke looks like he’s having the time of his life. Steve leaves the box of hardware on the lanai table and sneaks back inside to make a start on dinner.


	13. Chapter 13

The girls are impressed by the footings when they arrive the next day. While they wait for all their friends to come – their schools all let out at slightly different times – they try balancing together, as many as they can on the brackets, supporting each other’s weight. Their parents watch on, amused by their children’s antics and impressed with their teamwork. Steve files the idea away for some team building games at a later date. By the time Grace and Danny arrive, the whole group is a little too hyper for Steve’s liking. He whistles loudly and the girls freeze in place. 

“Okay that was fun but we need to get started.” 

The girls make to move to the table where the tools are again laid out ready to be used.

“Not so fast,” Steve’s voice is full of authority and Danny wonders if it was this effective on new recruits. It’s making him want to snap to attention. The girls turn back and watch intently. “Nobody is using any tools while you are all this worked up. Take your shoes off, we’re going for a run and you’re going to get sandy.”

Surprisingly, there is not so much as a groan of protest from the girls. Each slips off their shoes, either running sneakers or boots, and tucks their socks neatly inside. Steve also toes off his work boots and waits for Danny to do the same. They can’t really leave the property without the parents’ permission but the gardens are large enough that two trips from the very front gate to the ocean and back again is enough to calm the girls to Steve’s satisfaction. 

“That’s better,” he announces as the group stands around in varying states of breathlessness. “Get a drink of water then come put your shoes back on.”

Danny chuckles as Grace exaggerates her exhaustion and her friends giggle, the girls making their way to the tap on the side of the house. 

Steve scowls. 

“What?” Danny asks.

“They were too excited to use hand tools,” Steve defends. “It wasn’t safe.”

“Oh I know that,” Danny nods. “I just can’t believe you didn’t make them drop and give you twenty.”

Steve looks thoughtful. “Do you think…”

“No, Babe,” Danny pats him on the arm. “That wasn’t a suggestion. I’m just really impressed with how this has been going, that’s all. You’re great with them. You’re doing everything the handbook says and more.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“You did read the handbook they gave us when we signed the paperwork, right?”

“Um, did you?”

Danny nods. “Of course I did.”

“Well then,” Steve grins, “We’ve got it covered, right?” He returns Danny’s slap on the back and starts to put his own boots back on.

By the time the sun sets, the girls have helped assemble the joists Steve had pre-cut and learnt how to measure then safely saw through the ones he had left long. They’re proud of their work and can’t stop talking about it when their parents come to pick them up. 

While Lisa is saying goodbye to her friends, her mom pulls Steve and Danny aside. 

“I can’t thank you two enough for this,” she smiles, watching her daughter as she mimes hammering something then dissolves into giggles. “Her dad’s been deployed for so long. You know how that is, Commander.”

Steve nods. “It can’t be easy. For either of you.”

“Anything we can do to help, you just let us know, okay?” Danny adds. 

“You’re already doing so much for her, teaching her these things when her dad isn’t here to do it.”

Lisa runs over then and grabs her mom by the hand. “Come and see the footings,” she drags her towards the shed. “I put the concrete in this one. Not cement, that’s just what you call the powder part but it’s concrete when it’s all mixed and wet. Most people get that wrong…” Her voice fades out as she turns away and bends down to show her mom the exact bolt she had helped tighten that afternoon. 

“What’s with you?” Danny frowns at his partner. 

“What?”

“With the dopey grin and the ‘aww that’s so cute’ face.”

“What’ve I said about naming my faces, Danno?”

“What’ve I said about calling me ‘Danno’?”

Steve grunts. “I’m just happy, that’s all.” He turns to face Danny square on. “Am I allowed to be happy?” 

Danny smiles softly. “Yeah,” he brushes a hand along Steve’s forearm. “Of course you are, Babe.”

They stand there for probably too long, forgetting that the yard is full of people. The moment is broken by a crash from the kitchen. 

Steve’s head whips up. “What was…”

“You tried to stack everything in the drainer rack without drying as you went, didn’t you?” Danny accuses loudly. 

“Uh, maybe.” Steve tries to look sheepish and forces himself not to send furtive glances at the kitchen window. 

A few of the moms laugh and getting the hint, usher their children past Steve and Danny to say thank you, before heading out up the side of the house.

“That was quick thinking,” Steve breathes a sigh of relief as they toe off their boots in the laundry. He can’t wait to see what mess ‘Uke has made in the kitchen this time.

“He’s getting harder and harder to keep inside. He grew a foot and a half in the last two weeks,” Danny observes the array of pots and pans which have been pulled from around the kitchen. ‘Uke sits in the middle of the floor, leaning on the island, happily munching away at what’s left of a bag of potato chips. 

“We’ll get the shed finished next week, do the side walls with the girls then put the roof on ourselves. He can start going out of the house next weekend.”

“That’s if there’s any house left for him to go out of.”

* * *   
Despite the rather unorthodox changes to Steve’s home life, and recent purchase of several new fire extinguishers, things at Five-0 go on almost as usual. Well, as usual as they’ve ever been for the taskforce. They run down leads the same as always and Danny smoothes things over with HPD and the governor when Steve is done. The only thing that is different is that Steve’s house is no longer the second social hub for the group. Now they only meet at Kamekona’s shrimp truck and Kono is starting to ask questions. 

“Chin and our uncle got a pretty great catch when they went spear fishing this morning,” she says leadingly. 

Steve nods slowly, “The tides have been good for it,” he says noncommittally. 

“There’s easily enough to feed the four of us, plus Grace and whoever else wants to come.”

“I’d love to, but I,” Steve starts but then realizes he’s run out of excuses to keep everyone away from the house. 

“The yard’s still a mess from the shed we’re building with Grace’s troop,” Danny jumps in and saves his partner. “Right, Steve?”

Steve nods. “Right.”

“That’s okay, we can work around th…”

“Kono,” Chin snaps. “Leave it be.”

“But they…”

“If Steve doesn’t want people at his house then he doesn’t have to have people at his house.”

“Fine.” Kono shrugs. “We’ll have a cook out in a park.” She huffs, leaving before she changes her mind and presses the issue further. 

Chin watches his cousin close the glass door to her office and turns to his friends. “Look, I don’t know what it is that you two think you’re keeping a secret…”

“We aren’t keeping anything ‘secret’.” Steve hates lying to his friend.

“Sure you aren’t,” Chin scoffs. “And I’m going to quit this gig and join a hula troop because the hours are better,” he says sarcastically. “Just know that when you’re ready, whatever it is that you’ve got to tell us, it’s nothing we haven’t suspected for a while now. And we’re happy for you, okay?”

“Uh, okay?” Danny frowns and looking to the side, sees that Steve is as puzzled as he is. There is no way that Chin knows about ‘Uke.

“What the hell was that about?” Steve asks when Chin is out of earshot.

Danny shrugs. “No idea. But I hate lying to them. I think we need to tell them about ‘Uke.”

“We trust them,” Steve agrees. “But I don’t want them to have to lie for me if other people find out.”

“You mean lie for us, Steve. You’ve dragged me into these shenanigans from the start. I say we tell them and then if other people find out, we go public to control the story.”

“Okay then,” Steve eyes Kono in her office, phone to her ear. “Let’s tell her she and Chin can come over for dinner tomorrow. I think the best way to break it to them will be to show them.”

“So basically, they’re our guinea pigs for how people will respond?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh this ought to be good.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Should we knock?” Kono looks from the door to her cousin and back again. 

Chin just takes hold of the handle and steps into the house. “Never did in the past.”

“Yeah. But that was before. They might be…”

“What?” Chin frowns.

She nods slowly. “Y’know.”

“They know we’re coming over. They _invited_ us over. I’m sure whatever is going on between the two of them, they can keep it in their pants when they’re expecting company.”

Kono laughs. “Really? Not sure I could if I was banging someone as hot as Steve. Or Danny for that matter. They’re both pretty. And together?” She looks thoughtfully into the distance and follows her cousin into the house. 

“Kono! Don’t forget that Grace is here. So mind your manners and get your mind out of wherever it is you just let it go. Gutter doesn’t seem low enough,” Chin tries not to lecture, he understands because even his curiosity has reached breaking point. “They are our friends and wherever they are at with their personal lives, we are happy for them.”

“Of course we are,” Kono grins devilishly. “But that doesn’t stop a girl from dreaming.” She looks around the living room, searching with the eye of the investigator she is. Nothing looks that different than it did when they last visited a couple of months ago but then again, Danny has always spent an unnatural amount of time at Steve’s. The only inconsistency she can see is that there are no longer any rugs or soft furnishings in the sitting area. If it weren’t the house of her boss, she’d suspect foul play and disposing of evidence. Although with Steve, one could never be sure.

“Steve? Danny?” Chin calls out, shutting the door behind them and makes his way through the dining room and onto the lanai.

There’s a clashing from around the side of the house and Steve appears, brushing his hands off and unhooking the handle of a pair of pliers from his shorts pocket. He places them on the table beside Chin and greets his guests. 

“Sorry,” he looks back over his shoulder, “Been dealing with something particularly stubborn,” he scowls.

“You deal with Danny with pliers?” Kono feigns innocence and is rewarded with a smirk from her boss.

“Some days I wonder if that would be easier than buttering him up with malasadas,” Steve agrees. “Certainly better for his arteries. But, no. Not Danny. He went in through the kitchen to tell Gracie you’re here. She’s been up to something in her room all afternoon.”

Chin and Kono exchange a look when Steve says ‘her’ room. 

“Oh, here,” Kono holds up the six pack she’d stopped off to get on the way over. “Better get these in the fridge before they get hot.”

“Or drink them,” Steve winks, picking the pliers back up and holding his hand out for a bottle. 

Kono laughs and holds up the first, passing over two more for him to open. 

“I’ll just put these inside and see where those Williams are at,” Steve says after taking a long draw from his beer. “You guys should check out the new shed Grace and her friends have been helping us build.”

“Will do,” Chin smiles and watches his friend leave.

“Wow, did that feel strained to you?”

“Yeah. Whatever it is, they’re keeping a pretty huge secret, Cuz.”

They drink in silence, wandering over to the almost finished construction beside the garden bed and inspecting the work of Grace’s troop. Chin admits that it’s pretty tidy work and it probably won’t take much longer to complete. When they see Steve come back out through the doors, they make their way back and meet him at the table. Steve has another beer in one hand and a tray of steaks in the other. 

“Danny’ll be out in a minute. He and Grace are just finishing tidying something up.” He places the meat next to the grill and joins his friends. 

They chat about the size of the waves up on the North Shore the previous weekend and Steve asks after a friend of Kono’s who wiped out, ending up in the hospital with a pretty bad concussion. Steve winces sympathetically when she admits her friend is more cut up about the stitches through his leg tattoo from where the coral sliced his calf open. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Danny appears from around the trellis, Grace trailing behind him. “Somebody decided that half a bottle of shampoo was the right amount to use in one bath and, well, you don’t want to see the laundry right now.”

“But it says to use a capful for each pound so I guess that and then I counted exactly the…”

“We’ll talk about it later, okay, Gracie?” Steve smoothes her hair and waits until the distressed furrow leaves her brow. 

Kono laughs. “That explains the crashing we heard when we got here.”

“Yeah, well. Next time we’re using the hose like I suggested,” Danny scowls. 

“That’s kind of overkill don’t you think, Danno?”

“No, Steven. I do not think. I’m not going to spend the rest of forever wiping up the mess when…

“Guys,” Chin interrupts. “As amusing as this is, we came for food and we came to find out the big secret you’ve been keeping. And I’m assuming you’re going to want to do it in the other order so, not to be rude, but can we get to it?”

“Sure. Right,” Danny shuts his mouth.

“Sorry,” Steve adds. 

Grace looks up at her dad, eyes wide. “Oh, Danno are we going to tell them?” she asks hopefully. 

“We are.”

“Good,” she nods. “I miss our BBQs.”

“Well,” Steve smiles. “If Kono and Chin are okay with what we have to say, I hope we will be able to go back to having our friends over again.”

“Of course we’re okay with it,” Kono grins. 

“You don’t even know what he has to say yet.”

“We, Danno. What we have to say.”

“Hey this was your idea.”

“No it wasn’t it was a series of events that conspired to create the…”

“Hey!” Chin snaps.

“Anyway, we’ll get to that,” Steve trails off. “You will have questions I am sure. So…”

“To start with,” Danny takes over. “ _We_ would like to apologize for keeping this secret from you, our partners and best friends.”

“We really don’t know how people are going to react and needed to get used to it all ourselves,” Steve adds.

“Right. And also we don’t know if it is going to have an impact on the taskforce.”

“Honestly, we’re not even sure if it is legal or if someone will try and take him away from us.”

“Him,” Kono squeaks.

“Yeah. There’s someone we need you to meet.”

“Oh my god. You guys stole a baby from an African country like Angelina and Brad. To be your love child.”

Steve chokes. "To be our what? No! It's not like... Well it kind of is I guess, it's just..."

Danny rolls his eyes and sighs. "Here goes nothing," he whistles loudly before calling out, “'Uke, come." 

“Oh, you got a dog?” Kono tries not to sound disappointed. “Well, I guess it’s like practice for a kid and it’s still something you look after tog…” She trails off into stunned silence as ‘Uke makes his way around the trellis and sits at Steve’s feet, his head in line with the man’s shoulder. 

“Uh,” Chin frowns. “What is that?”

“That,” Grace grins widely, “Is my dragon.”

* * * 

“So then Steve got it out of the bag and saw what it was.”

“And Danny screamed,” Steve passes the salad across the table after piling a generous helping on his plate.

“I did not scream,” Danny protests. “I yelled. At you. There is a difference.”

Steve ignores him. “And I didn’t know what to do so I convinced Danny to let me keep it until we decided what to do.”

“And it’s, uh…” Kono looks sideways at the creature which is rolling around on the grass with Grace, “It’s going well?”

“Well might be a tiny overstatement,” Steve admits. 

“He wrecked all the carpets and destroyed all the couch cushions when Steve accidentally left the Tabasco sauce out on the counter.”

“So the dragon doesn’t like hot food?”

“No. Which is ironic considering, y’know,” Danny gestures around his mouth. “With the fire and everything.”

“He makes actual fire?” 

“Yup,” Grace confirms proudly from the ground. “And smoke too.”

“And can he,” Chin, uncharacteristically off balance, makes a flapping movement with his hands. 

“Fly?” Steve supplies, shaking his head. “Not that we know of. He has wings but we’ve never seen him use them. He’s not been outside all that much though. But we have to now he’s getting too big for the house.”

“Hence the fireproof garden shed,” Kono observes the pile of retardant sheeting stacked behind the table. 

“Right. We’re building him a kennel and making a strong chain to keep him here but still give him room to move about when we’re out.”

Regathering his wits, Chin looks thoughtfully at ‘Uke. “You know, a GPS implant would probably not be a bad idea.”

“Like a microchip?”

“Kind of,” Chin nods. “More like a transmitter than just something that you can physically scan. That way, if he does wander off, you can find him rather than wait for someone else to find him first.”

“Good idea,” Danny looks at Steve who nods his agreement. 

“I’ve got a friend at UH who can probably hook us up with one of the transmitters they put on the monk seals.”

“Sounds perfect. Please tell your friend that we will make a generous, anonymous donation to cover the cost to the program,” Steve decides.

“I’ll get on it this week.”

“Thanks. So,” Danny hesitates. “We okay?”

“You have a dragon,” Kono tears her eyes from ‘Uke and back to Danny.

“Yes. Can you forgive us keeping this secret for so long?”

“Your dragon makes fire,” Kono points out. “I don’t want it to think I hate it.”

“You don’t hate ‘Uke though, do you?” Grace stops playing, and sits astride her pet, looking for all the world like they’re about to take to the skies. 

“No,” Kono confirms. “I don’t know enough about him to hate him.”

“Come meet him!” Grace slides off and stands by the animals head, hand resting between his eyes. “He likes it when you tickle him here. And behind his ears.”

Kono hesitates. 

“Go on,” Steve urges. “He’s so gentle with Grace. You can trust him.”

“Okay then.” She walks slowly over, hands by her sides and it’s the first time that Steve really thinks that they could have a problem when they go public. If Kono, is afraid of the dragon, then they have little hope with the rest of the population. 

Kono stops beside Grace, lifting her hand halfway to ‘Uke before dropping it back beside her.

“Here, like this,” Grace takes hold of Kono’s wrist and gently places her hand on ‘Uke’s head. 

“Oh, he’s soft,” Kono breathes. “I thought he’d be all scaly feeling, but he’s not.”

Grace nods. “His egg was the same. It was like a weird leathery ball.”

Kono moves her hand slowly across to scratch behind the dragon’s ear, or rather the reptilian ear hole, and he closes his eyes, making a gurgling, cooing sound. Startled, she stops and ‘Uke opens one eye, almost glaring.

“He likes it,” Grace assures her. “Keep going.”

Kono resumes the motion and ‘Uke closes his eye again, slowly sinking to the ground, taking Kono’s hand with him. 

“Well,” Steve says quietly to the other men at the table, “That went okay.”

“He’s accepted a stranger,” Danny agrees. “Steve, I think we need to tell the governor rather than have ‘Uke get out and be ‘discovered’.”

“Oh,” Chin chuckles, “Please let me be there when you do.”

“Maybe we can take him to work with us and he can help us interrogate suspects.”

“No, Steven,” Danny chides. “We talked about this, remember? No feeding the murderers to the dragon.”

“But Danno…”

“Shut it, you animal,” Danny laughs, swatting his friend. “Does he look like he wants to eat anyone?”

‘Uke is sprawled out on his back now, Kono and Grace rubbing his tummy and the animal’s tongue lolls sloppily out the corner of his mouth. Grace whispers something to Kono who snorts loudly before shooting a furtive look at Danny. “Ask your father,” she laughs. 

“Ask me what, Monkey?” Danny leans back in his chair to make room for Grace, squeezing her tight when she crawls up into his lap. 

“I was just wondering,” she tilts her head and regards her father curiously. “What’s a love child?”


	15. Chapter 15

The rest of the evening is spent adjusting, Chin and Kono asking a few more questions that Steve and Danny hadn’t already answered over dinner. Afterwards, they stick around for a while to help to put the last few pieces of tin onto the shed roof. With the strong floodlights from the upper lanai, they decide to start on the walls and soon discover that ‘Uke wants to help. After they get the first board in place, he nudges in next to Kono and presses his head against the sheeting, holding it still while the humans nail and screw it. They finish one whole side before they decide to call it a night. The last thing they need is a neighbor calling in a noise complaint and HPD turning up to a house with dragon as an apprentice builder. 

It turns out to be fortunate that they spent the extra time on the shed as the next few days are busy for the taskforce. A jewelry store robbery, the fifth in less than three months, takes a personal turn when the thieves leave behind not fingerprints but a note addressed to Five-0. They work the case but run into nothing but dead ends and a missing child takes priority over their taunting robbers. 

The girl is found and reunited with her frantic parents but it takes another three days and the governor orders the team to take some down time. With nothing else to do on the robbery case but sit on the BOLOs and hope someone sees one of the thieves around town, they part ways with promises to catch up in a couple of days. After maybe sleeping for a week. 

In between the chaos of their unpredictable case load, Steve and Danny seem to have settled into a pretty regular afternoon routine. Despite the long work days, they still need to return to the house, feed 'Uke his dinner before the sun sets and it gets too cool. Afterwards, Steve usually gets in a swim while Danny does some training with the dragon. 

They have truly gotten past the rocky time they had at the beginning of their time with ‘Uke, and the dragon’s obedience training is proving very successful. Since ‘Uke quickly mastered the usual commands taught to a dog, Steve is now working with him on more complicated tasks such as seeking hidden items ‘Uke has already proven himself to have an excellent sense of smell after sniffing out the hidden marshmallows and eating the entire stash. Danny can’t believe that he is still the only one in the house who didn’t know Steve’s hiding place. ‘Uke is also able to locate concealed items belonging to specific people; at this point he has mastered finding for Steve, Danny and Grace.

They are also working on recall training, allowing ‘Uke to explore the yard freely before calling out for him. The animal is doing well with this and almost always returns for a treat and a scratch on the head. He seems to enjoy the training, even appearing at times to take it as a challenge to beat Steve at this fun and magical game. 

As well as the ordinary ‘sit’ command, they use another which can helps keep ‘Uke still beside them. After seeing the monk seals at the Waikiki aquarium engage in a training session, Grace decides that ‘Uke also needed to learn to ‘park it’. It only took her one afternoon to teach him to sit in front of her and when she was satisfied, she dragged her dad outside in the middle of a baseball game to demonstrate the new skill. Thoughts of the 6th innings soon left Danny’s mind when he saw the animal push his nose gently against Grace’s fist and hold it there until she released him with their usual cue; ‘at ease’. 

Today, Danny waits on the shore as Steve starts his swim. ‘Uke soon joins him on the grass and looks up at Danny who scowls. Their height difference has diminished even more this last week while the team was so busy, and soon the dragon will be taller, he’s sure. ‘Uke looks at him then turns to watch Steve move further away from the shore before looking back at Danny again. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll be back,” he assures the animal, rubbing absentmindedly between the smooth, black shoulders. In the afternoon sun, he notices for the first time that ‘Uke has a sheen to him, almost hovering above the darkness of his scales. He’s a shiny, dark amethyst color that glistens with the rise and fall of his lungs.

‘Uke grunts and steps down the small embankment onto the sand, eyes not leaving the path Steve is cutting through the flat water.

“Oh, you want to go with him?” Danny realizes, following ‘Uke to the water line. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt,” he shrugs. “What command means ‘go to Steve and try not to drown’?” He asks the dragon, gesturing as he speaks, flinging his arm out in the direction of his partner. 

‘Uke bounds into the water. 

“Hmm. Well I guess that’s as good a cue as any.” Danny makes a mental note to add ‘go to’ certain people to ‘Uke’s training. He wonders, not for the first time, just how smart the animal is.

Danny watches as ‘Uke slides under the water and if it weren’t such a bright afternoon, he’s sure he’d lose sight of him. As it is, he has to shade his eyes and squint to keep track of the dark shape gliding just under the surface. He catches up with Steve in less than a minute and pops up right in front of him. Steve stops and treads water, looking back to shore to where Danny is standing. They shrug at each other and Steve continues his swim, ‘Uke by his side.

Danny heads inside to find some food for dinner and assess the dragon treat situation. He’s begun eating so much as he’s growing so fast and they almost can’t keep up. They’re sure the dragon would happily live on marshmallows if they let him, which amuses Steve to no end pointing out the similarities to a certain New Jersey detective who hated ‘Uke at first. They decided last week to keep feeding him a variety of food, more and more ‘people’ food so Danny decides on vegetables and steak for dinner with ‘Uke having a can of meaty, natural dog food instead of a t-bone. 

After some peeling and chopping, Danny sticks the vegetables into the microwave to cook while he unwraps the steaks and rinses out ‘Uke’s food bowl. The timer dings just as the wet, sandy swimmers come onto the lanai. Danny gathers the steaks and goes out to meet them. 

“A SEAL and a dragon walk into a bar,” he says to Steve who is drying his hair, rubbing it vigorously with a towel.

“Sounds like the start of a bad joke, “ Steve grins from under the corner of the towel and finishes up in a couple more rubs before draping it over the back of the nearest chair.

“Sounds like trouble, you mean.” Danny hands him the tray of meat. “Here, make yourself useful.”

Steve takes it just as ‘Uke tries to sneak past Danny and into the house. 

“’Uke, stop,” Steve says firmly. 

'Uke freezes. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Drippy?” Danny picks up the towel from the back of the chair and spreads it over the animal’s shoulders. “Park it,” ‘Uke touches his nose to Danny’s fist and stands there patiently while Danny rubs at him. ‘Uke even lifts each foot when Danny crouches to brush the sand off. 

“Okay, at ease,” he issues the release command and 'Uke plods into the house to do who knows what. Danny’s discovered that the less he worries about it the better. “Hey, he’s better trained than you are, Steve,” Danny teases. “He doesn’t go in the house all sandy.”

“You’re more than welcome to rub me off any time you like, Danno,” Steve says cheekily.

“Not on your life,” Danny protests. “Don’t go saying shit like that, Steve. No wonder everyone keeps making jokes about the state of our relationship.”

“Who?”

“Lori used to. Half of the criminals on the island do.”

“They’re just giving us lip.”

“I’m pretty sure Kono is about ready to pick us a china pattern.”

“What?” the SEAL sputters. “But she can’t do that.”

Danny rolls his eyes. “Well, obviously.”

“We don’t need any china,” Steve assures him. “We’re fine with what we have here already.”

“You… we… No. Just. No, Steven.” Danny swats the back of his partner’s legs with the wet towel and scowls. “Cook the meat. I’m going to make sure your pet hasn’t got into the trash cans again.”

Steve watches him go down the side of the house and wonders why Danny’s vehement protests bother him so much.

* * *   
The next afternoon, while Steve is laying out the tools for the last session of shed building, Chin calls with good news. Danny comes ambling over when he ends the call and leans on the corner of the shed. 

“Chin’s coming over about 8:30 tonight. With a friend.”

“Okay,” Steve frowns, the cautious question obvious in his tone.

“He’s got the transmitter chip for us.”

“Oh, great,” Steve nods. “And the friend?”

“The biologist connection he has at UH.”

“No. Danny, we can’t…”

“Steve, listen to me.” Danny takes a deep breath and waits for Steve to be paying full attention instead of running every possible doomsday scenario through his head. “Chin’s friend is a vet. Chin hasn’t told him anything but there’s only so many things a person could need an off the record transmitter for.”

“I can think of at least six reasons that don’t involve a dragon.”

“There are only so many things that a normal person could need an off the record transmitter for,” Danny corrects himself. “Now, Chin’s friend has offered to come and insert the transmitter somewhere safe that won’t move or hurt 'Uke.”

“It can’t be that hard,” Steve protests. 

“It can’t go just anywhere. He said depending on the size of the animal, the chip either needs to go in muscle or under the skin. We don’t know these things.”

“How does he know it is for an animal?”

“Seriously?” The look Danny shoots his partner could rival 'Uke’s fire power. “What the hell else would it be for?” He says, frustrated. “After all the times you joked about sticking a chip in me, I can’t believe that you’re so reluctant to lojacking a dragon.”

Steve sighs, knowing Danny has him beat. “Yeah. Okay.”

Danny shrugs. “We were going to go public soon anyway. This way, we can get him all set up with trackers first and also have him checked over by a vet.”

Steve stays silent. 

“Hey, talk to me,” Danny coaxes, pushing off the wall and gripping his friend’s shoulder. 

Steve shakes his head. “It’s nothing. I just…” he swallows. 

“You’ve just become attached to the little monster, haven’t you?” Danny knows it’s true. At this point he’d be sad to lose 'Uke so he imagines that for Steve, the prospect would be even worse. 

“I promised I wouldn’t. It’s just an animal.”

“Oh, Babe,” Danny sighs and pulls his partner into a hug. “He’s not just any animal. And besides, you can’t choose not to love something. Especially something that is unique and completely reliant on you. It was bound to happen.” He releases Steve but stays close, leaning into his friend’s side.

“You knew it would. You warned me.”

“I know you,” Danny reminds him. “I know how you give yourself to things 100% and don’t give up until you find a way to make it work. You’ve done everything you can to keep him safe and make him safe for other people. All you can do now is make sure that he’s healthy and then introduce him to the world.”

Steve flinches at Danny’s words and part of the reason this is so hard dawns on the detective. 

“It’s more than being worried about how people will react, isn’t it, Steve?”

“No,” he lies. 

“Yes. You like having something that is just yours. It doesn’t matter that it’s a dragon.”

Steve scowls at being called out. “It’s stupid.”

Danny laughs. “No it isn’t. It is perhaps one of the most normal things you’ve ever done.”

“I just like it, okay?” Steve defends. “He’s special. When Grace comes over and they’re playing and you’re pretending to be grumpy while secretly wondering if you can teach a dragon to push the lawnmower and it’s kind of like…”

“Family?”

“A twisted, weird, scaly family.”

“Hey,” Danny punches Steve playfully. “My daughter is neither weird nor scaly.”

“Not her you idiot.”

“Well, you are pretty weird and twisted. I’m more prickly than scaly.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Why do I bother,” he asks, shaking his head. 

“Because we’re worth the trouble,” Danny affirms. “Look, we’ve taken it this far, all we can do is go one day at a time and do everything we can to make the chips fall in our favor. Or I suppose in this case, the scales tip in our favor,” he grins at his play on words.

“Things have been great since he came,” Steve nods. “I don’t want to lose him and I don’t want to lose this,” he adds quietly. He doesn’t specify what exactly ‘this’ is, but he has a feeling Danny understands just the same.

“You won’t,” Danny smiles. “Whatever happens with 'Uke, me and Grace will stick around. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay,” Steve smiles back weakly. 

Danny nods. “Alright. In the mean time, we have half a dozen pre-teens ready to descend on the house in under an hour. You need anything?”

“No we’re set up. Let’s get 'Uke and take him upstairs before the girls come.”

“I’ll get the marshmallows ready,” Danny hedges. “Where are they again?”

“Not a chance, Danno.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Peter, come in,” Steve stands back, holding the front door open to allow their visitor to enter. “Thanks for coming over so late.”

“No problem,” Peter carries a knapsack about the size of a carry on bag through the door. “I don’t usually make house calls these days but I have to admit that I am rather intrigued by what is going on here.”

Danny claps his hands together nervously. “Well then. Let’s just get right to it then shall we?”

The visitor nods. “Lead the way.” 

Steve shoots Chin a look he can’t quite place as he enters behind his friend. Unsure if he should follow the others out the back, Chin closes the door slowly and tries to get a read on the other man. 

Despite the many remarks Danny made back at the start of their partnership, Steve is not completely unobservant when it comes to the feelings of other human beings and he can see his friend’s reluctance. The tense line in his shoulders is enough of a giveaway but a subtle frown mars the usually unreadable poker face.

“Don’t worry about it, Chin,” he shrugs. “We were going to have to go public soon anyway. This just moved up the timeframe a bit.”

“Peter’s good people,” he assures his friend. “He’ll be able to help you get an idea what your options are from here now that ‘Uke is getting too big to hide.”

Steve leads the way through the house, past the dining room and out onto the lanai where Peter is waiting. 

“Can I get you a drink or anything?” Steve asks the doctor.

“Thanks,” he nods. “A beer would be great if you have one.”

Chin laughs. “You’re in the house of a cop and a Navy SEAL, Brah.” He claps Steve on the shoulder. “I’ll get them while you interrogate my friend.”

“I’m not going to interrogate him,” Steve protests but the slight reddening of the tips of his ears gives him away. He turns to their visitor. “I don’t know you.”

“No, you don’t.” Peter agrees. “But I know you, and your partner by reputation and also from what Chin has told me. I’m not entirely sure why I am here, and considering the secrecy, I doubt it’s legal. But you guys risk your lives to keep Hawaii safe so I’m willing to work with what you’ve got going here.”

“Thanks. I know it’s a lot to ask,” Steve says. “To trust us like this can’t be any easier than it is for us to bring in an outsider. You’re the first person we’ve told other than Chin and his cousin.”

“I understand,” Peter nods. “I guess Chin told you about the work I do at the university. I also work with some other government organizations to protect and manage endangered wildlife and put in place programs to educate the public.”

“Actually,” Steve decides to share, even though it will give away the fact that they ran a quick background check on Peter this evening after dinner, “You’ve met Danny’s daughter, Grace. Your team presented at her school last year and she came home wondering if we could designate the backyard as a marine refuge and somehow get a monk seal to take up residence.”

The doctor chuckles. “I wish I could say that I was sorry about that,” he grins. “But I have to admit, it’s a great response because it means that this next generation of kids growing up is going to be passionate about their environment and the creatures in it.”

“At least she doesn’t bug you about a pet seal anymore, Steve,” Chin returns, handing each man an open beer and placing a fourth on the table for Danny. 

“No,” Steve agrees. “She doesn’t.”

Peter frowns. “How’d you talk her out of that?”

“Uh, well…” 

Just then, Danny comes around the corner, looking grumpy and sweating slightly. At Steve’s nod, he crosses the lawn to join the group on the lanai. 

“Sorry,” he says, taking the beer Chin holds out and taking a long draw. “He was sleeping in the ginger bushes down the side and he wouldn’t get up. I had to literally push him by the backside to make him come out,” Danny scowls at his dirty shoes. 

“I take it we aren’t talking about a dog,” Peter is still trying to work out the deal here and the curiosity is getting to breaking point. 

“No.” 

The doctor huffs. “Okay, time to let the biologist in on the secret,” he scowls. 

“Turn around,” Steve suggests. 

Peter follows the direction of Steve’s head and turns, looking past Danny but seeing only darkness beyond the bright lights of the lanai. As his eyes adjust to the lower light, he sees a shape, about the same height as the detective, standing a few feet away on the grass. Then two yellowy, citrine colored eyes blink out of the darkness.

“’Uke, come out,” Steve coaxes. “It’s okay, buddy.”

The shape shrinks back a step towards the edge of the gardens. 

“Hey, none of that,” Danny gently rouses. “’Uke, park it.” He commands and despite its obvious wariness of the situation, the shape obeys, stepping out into the light and pressing its nose into Danny’s outstretched fist. 

Peter is speechless, staring for a long minute at the creature before him. It’s unlike anything he’s ever encountered in his life, as part of his career or when traveling the world. It’s large and black and scaly but smooth and there’s a deep, almost navy blue sheen to the animal that makes it blend into the dim light. 

“It’s…” he stammers. 

The rest of the group wait for his brain to come back on line, quickly realizing that this is probably going to be the standard response when people find out about the unusual pet. ‘Uke stands still, waiting patiently in his ‘parked’ position. 

“I can’t believe it,” the doctor finally manages to get out. “Where did you even find…” His mind is going a million miles a minute and he has so many questions and a few concerns but finds that what he wants to do most of all is touch that smooth expanse of scales. 

“Can I?” He asks, nodding towards the animal. 

“Go ahead,” Steve steps up to his side to keep him steady as the doctor is looking like he can’t decide between jumping for joy and passing out from the shock. “Just reach out gently like you would with a dog.”

Peter follows Steve’s suggestion and rests his fist gently in beside Danny’s. “Park it,” he says softly and Danny slowly takes his hand away. ‘Uke hesitates at first but then turns his head ever so slightly and presses into Peter’s fingers. The doctor takes a shuddering breath then breathes out slowly, steadying himself. 

“'Uke,” Danny nods, “Meet Dr Foster. He’s going to help us take care of you.”

Peter nods dumbly and Steve smiles at his reaction. “And Doctor, meet 'Uke. Our dragon.”


	17. Chapter 17

After a few minutes getting used to the idea that at least one dragon exists and it is living in a suburban backyard in Honolulu, the doctor can’t hold back his questions any longer. Steve and Danny bring him in on how they came to be the guardians of ‘Uke, leaving out no details save for the exact location where Steve found the rock. Even Danny still doesn’t know that. 

They also explain what they’ve been feeding 'Uke and Peter agrees that it seems to be keeping the animal healthy from what he can see so far. Peter does have concerns about the dragon from the standpoint of a biologist and conservationist. Not to mention the legal implications of keeping a dragon. Steve and Danny assure him that it is nothing they haven’t already considered. 

“This is the first step in us going public,” Steve admits. “It was actually Chin’s idea to fit the tracker and get a health check.”

“I think that’s wise,” Peter nods. “I don’t think you will be able to keep him a secret much longer. All it would take to start hysteria would be a surfer or paddle boarder close enough to shore to see him and take a photo.”

“We know it’s a lot to ask, Peter, but if you believe 'Uke is healthy and no immediate danger to the animals or people of Hawaii, we plan to tell the governor this week.”

“And if I don’t?” The doctor doesn’t want to think he is being issued an ultimatum but the only other option is heartbreaking to think of, even after only knowing of the existence of the animal for less than half an hour.

“Then we do what needs to be done,” Steve says stiffly. He only relaxes when Danny reaches out and squeezes his shoulder. 

“It’ll be alright, Babe,” Danny assures him and Steve nods, distracted.

While they talk, the group watches 'Uke sneak about the garden beds. When they have finished their beer, Peter suggests that he examine the animal indoors where the light is better. Steve and Danny head in to make space, moving the chairs from around the dining room table. They place towels over the tabletop to protect the wood and make 'Uke more comfortable for his procedure. Finally, they drag the heavy iron floor lamp in from the living room to provide Peter the best light they can in the old house. 

When everything is ready, Peter sets the equipment he will need out on the table, Danny returns to the garden to coax the patient in and Steve gets the marshmallows. He has a feeling 'Uke will be earning them tonight. When ‘Uke is standing beside the table, Peter asks if they are sure it will take the dragon’s weight. Steve assures him it will, recalling that much to his mom’s protest, his father always stood on it to change light bulbs instead of getting the ladder. 

Still, there is a moment of tension while they coax the animal up onto the surface and Chin is glad he is standing far out of the way, leaning on the study desk. He can’t help but smile at the way Steve and Danny are hovering around the dragon, like nervous parents at a post-natal appointment.

Peter begins his examination by having Steve stand close to the table and having 'Uke assume the ‘park it’ position. This allows him to investigate the animal closely and safely. Assuming that the Navy man has no formal animal training knowledge, he advises Steve to periodically reward 'Uke throughout the procedure to ensure his continued cooperation. Ordinarily, he would be against using such sweet, fatty food as training treats but this is clearly a unique case and in an animal the size of the dragon, the handfuls of marshmallows will make little difference.

The doctor has to keep reminding himself that his foremost priority is to, as best he can, ascertain the health of his patient. It’s a difficult task in this case, he is burning with curiosity to know everything he can about this animal the likes of which he has never seen in all his years as a biologist and consulting veterinarian at zoos around the world. 

He begins with 'Uke’s head. The animal’s eyes, besides being beautiful are clear and alert. They’re a changeable shade of yellowy green, Peter now realizes that the dragon’s eyes were actually reflecting much like a cat’s does in a beam of light. This suggests that 'Uke may be nocturnal or just really well adapted for a varied lifestyle. 

He moves on to 'Uke’s ears, which seem normal for those of a reptile. He checks inside for any sign of infection and sees none. 

“Where did you say you found the egg, Steve?”

“Uh, I can’t really…”

“Right. Of course,” Peter nods. “Can I ask was the desert near any large bodies of water? Oceans, lakes?”

“No. Why?”

“Because you mentioned 'Uke likes to go swimming with you and I find that curious considering he is from a desert, that’s all. He doesn’t have webbed feet that I can see.”

“Hmm. He’s just adventurous,” Steve grins, offering the animal another marshmallow.

Peter continues to the rounded spikes behind 'Uke’s head, much like the gills of an axolotl only totally smooth. He supposes they would be used for intimidation like a frilled neck or bearded dragon. Finally, he examines 'Uke’s back and legs, finding nothing unexpected. Claws not razor sharp but enough to grip and climb when needed. 

The scales which cover the dragon are smooth and Peter feels he could stand here running his hand over them all night if they let him. They shine yet they don’t and he can’t explain the blueness he saw outside. Here, on the makeshift examination table, 'Uke is as black as freshly set larva. Finally, he extends the dragon’s left wing, needing to take several steps back to reach the full span. 

“Woah,” Steve almost drops his hand from the park position in shock. “I didn’t realize that they had grown that much,” he says, shocked. “He never does anything with them.”

“They were ridiculous and cute like My Little Pony wings when he hatched,” Danny confirms. “What? Grace loved them when she was smaller,” he defends when the other men look at him strangely.

The wings feel leathery like a bat’s but Peter can see the smallest of scales covering the surface. Tearing himself away from the exterior of the dragon, he notes the animal’s snout to vent length and then tail length as well as toe to hip. He takes this last because he finds it curious how 'Uke sits upright almost like a dog begging for food.

There is one more thing Peter wants to measure and that is 'Uke’s weight but he isn’t sure how to accomplish such a task. 

“There’s a set of scales in my bathroom, Chin,” Steve tells his friend who immediately goes to get them. 

“Okay, get him off the table, Steve and we will try and get him to balance on the scale.” 

“Really?” Danny looks skeptical, even for Danny. “He’s not going to fit all four feet on there.”

“It doesn’t matter if it is just for a second, it will give us an idea of his weight, make sure you’re feeding him enough.”

Danny snorts. “Oh believe me, if he were hungry he’d find food.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” Steve grins and Danny shoots him a glare.

Chin returns then with the scales and places them on the floor beside Steve. 'Uke looks at them, nudging them with his nose as he usually does unfamiliar objects.

“This might be a long shot,” Danny steps forward and up onto the scales, “But he does seem to copy an awful lot of what he sees.” He stands still for a few moments, getting off before the final number locks in. Reaching into the bag, which Steve has stuffed safely into his back pocket, Danny takes out a few marshmallows. He pops one into his own mouth before holding the other over his head, directly over the scales. 

“'Uke, park it,” he commands. 

The dragon takes an unsure step up onto the strange, cold object, stretching his neck up for his treat but the scale tilts to one side under his uneven weight. 

“That’s okay, at ease,” Danny pets the animal reassuringly.

“Wait a second,” Steve disappears around the wall into the kitchen and reappears a minute later with the piece of wood they had used to carry 'Uke’s basket inside the first day they found him. Stands on the scale and weighs himself then does it again while holding the board, frowns to himself then nods. 

Danny raises an eyebrow. “Really?” 

“Yes, really.” Steve places the board so it is balanced over the scale and then repeats Danny’s demonstration of standing on it after getting ‘Uke’s attention. 

“At ease, sailor,” Danny grins when his partner steps down again. For good measure, he hands Steve a marshmallow. “Good SEAL,” he winks. 

Steve takes the sweet treat grudgingly and chews it with all the enthusiasm of a child taking cod liver oil. 

Peter bursts out laughing and turns to Chin. “Are they always like this?”

“Worse, usually,” he rolls his eyes. 

“Hey!” Danny protests but he knows it’s token at best.

“Deny it all you want but it has just become clear to me how you have managed to literally tame a wild beast.”

“They bribed it into a sugar coma?” Chin ribs.

“No. Unbeknownst to the two of you, you have just displayed a textbook example of the model-rival training method. You just rewarded each other for performing a desired behavior, in front of 'Uke. He sees that and thinks, ‘ _Oh hey if I do what he just did, I get another marshmallow!_ ’”

Danny frowns. “You mean our mucking around has been training him all this time?”

“Yes.”

“Grace does it with us too.”

“This shows me that 'Uke is a social animal, unlike most reptiles such as lizards and turtles which aren’t part of any kind of family group. He’s more like a crocodile which can communicate quite intricately.”

“He grunts and stuff,” Steve nods. “It’s pretty funny because he usually does it for the same reason Danny would. Like when he doesn’t get his own way.”

“Hey!”

“You know it’s true, Danno,” Steve laughs. “Our dragon’s grown up just like you.”

“You mean stunningly handsome and brilliantly intelligent?”

Steve snorts. “Yeah. No.”

“Actually, Steve,” Peter looks at Chin who just shakes his head, “I believe 'Uke is highly intelligent. Parrots learn like this. Studies have shown that within a species, offspring from different parents have unique vocalizations and when young are switched between nests by researchers, they soon learn the ‘language’ of the new parents.”

Steve whistles. “That’s pretty clever.”

“It’s vital to their survival.”

They look at 'Uke, who is sitting patiently throughout their exchange, watching the men as they talk. 

“Okay, let’s try again then,” Danny holds another marshmallow over the centre of the board and 'Uke steps up tentatively. He manages to get three feet balanced while stretching up for his reward and they are all relieved to hear the scale beep. Danny releases him before he can topple off again.

“He’s almost 200lb,” Peter observes. “Heavier than a fully grown komodo dragon. In just over 8 weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s fast for a reptile. Really fast.”

“Is that bad?” 

Peter shakes his head. “Not necessarily.”

“I hope he stops growing soon,” Danny sighs. “We already go to three different grocery stores for dog and cat food because it’s pretty suspicious. We buy so much it’s like we’re prepping for the apocalypse.”

“You just don’t want him to be taller than you.”

Danny growls and 'Uke grunts back. 

Peter shakes his head. “Unbelievable.”

After rewarding 'Uke with a couple more marshmallows, they get onto the less pleasant part of the examination; the microchip insertion. 

“It’s not painless,” Peter warns them. “He will probably react a little violently so I don’t want you or your hand near his head when I do it,” he tells Steve. 

When everything is ready, Danny gets the deflated basketball off the lanai and rolls it to 'Uke. When the dragon drops and picks it up in his mouth, Peter quickly inserts the chip in the top of 'Uke’s right leg. The animal tenses and the ball gives out a mournful squeak as all its remaining air is squeezed out. 

Steve quickly tosses the violated animal a few marshmallows that he swallows down before turning to lick the insertion point. 

“Well, that was easier than I expected,” Peter admits. 

Danny smiles widely. “Yeah and nothing is on fire.”

“You mean he can…”

“Yup. All the damn time.”

“Unbelievable.”

Lastly, Peter secures the GPRS tracker. 

“This model can be tracked in real time using a cell phone and a dedicated app.”

“Like how we track ransom drops,” Steve nods.

“Right. Only those probably aren’t waterproof.”

Peter fits the device on the outside of 'Uke’s left thigh, in the bend of his shoulder where it can’t slip down. He positions it carefully, ensuring the transmitter is facing upwards for a good signal. He affixes it with both a strap and non-toxic adhesive. He decides to use the tracker they fit to a monk seal’s fur but adds the leg strap due to the frequent shedding normally seen in reptiles. Since 'Uke likes to swim and submerge himself, it’s the best option.

“Great,” Danny grouses. “Now Grace is going to want a thigh holster for Christmas.”

Steve just grins stupidly.

“Can we assume, since you’ve fitted a several thousand dollar GPS to 'Uke, that you’re happy to take on his case?” Steve asks Peter hopefully. “At least for now anyway.”

Peter smiles. “I am.”


	18. Chapter 18

The impending completion of the new shed marks a milestone for the group of Aloha Girls. They worked hard for the weeks that it took to construct and Steve is pleased with what they have achieved. 

In the last session, they fit the door by measuring and marking out the position for the hinges, each girl having a turn at carefully chiselling out the recesses for the hardware. Finally, they help measure out and watch from a safe distance while Steve grinds a length of chain to act as the downspout. There’s no real reason for this over normal pipe, other than the fact that it looks really cool when it rains. Steve and Danny had already installed the guttering since it required ladders and the unfinished metal could be very sharp.

The very last step in the build is to place a large stainless steel bowl under the base of the chain that falls gently into the middle of it. When the bowl is full it will simply overflow and the water will sink away into the ground. A couple of the girls wonder why they put the bowl there at all and Steve says it is so they can water the garden with what they collect. They don’t really seem to be buying his answer but there’s no way he can tell them that it’s going to be a self-filling water bowl for their pet dragon.

When the girls are picked up and all the other parents have left, Steve talks to Angela about something special he wants to do with the kids. To celebrate the hard work the girls have done, and to give them the chance to show their families all that they have helped achieve, he and Danny want to invite everyone for a cookout. He knows it’s becoming risky to have outsiders at the house, but he hopes it is the last time they will have to hide 'Uke from visitors. They still plan to go public in the next couple of weeks. 

 

They plan the event for a Saturday so they can make a whole day of it; kind of like a mini campout. In the morning, Steve plans to run a few of the activities and games he’s been thinking about since seeing the girls trying to balance on the shed brackets. Then they will prepare a simple lunch and when that has settled, the girls will be able to go for a swim if they want to. 

All the girls seem to be strong swimmers but Danny and Steve will still supervise. Despite how much the SEAL teases his friend, he knows that Danny is more than capable in the water. Finally, the day will end with a shared dinner, the girls’ families all having been invited over for a campfire feast prepared by their children. 

Saturday looks like it’s shaping up to be a great, Hawaiian day. The forecast is for sun, the trade winds are keeping the humidity at bay and only light sprinklings are forecast for the afternoon. It’s nothing that will put a damper on their celebration and normal Oahu weather. 

The troop begin arriving at about ten, excited and ready to go. If Steve hadn’t known Grace for the last four years, he wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff each girl had slung on their person in various types of bags. He’s completed entire, month long missions with less equipment than most of them have brought for the day. 

When he hears Danny chuckling beside him, Steve looks over and realises that the detective knows exactly what he is thinking. He’s trying to remain composed in the face of his friend’s sudden lesson in pre-teen girls and their need to bring what seems like everything they own wherever they go.

“Are they all moving in?” Steve hisses out the side of his mouth. 

Danny starts outright laughing, not even bothering to hide his amusement any more. “Babe, this is a light trip. Besides, they needed swimsuits, towels, spare clothes for when they get wet playing the games, clothes and light jackets for the evening, sunscreen, probably some water toys and Riley will have the ingredients for her brother’s dinner that her mom sent. Allergies, remember?”

“Okay the food thing I get,” Steve watches as the girls stack their things neatly in the freshly completed shed, chattering happily about what they’ve done during the week, “But we have towels, sunscreen and recreational floating devices here already. They didn’t need to bring them.”

Danny’s about to make a dig at the ‘recreational floating devices’ when he realises that Steve is serious. He’s put out by the girls bringing all their own stuff. “Stop pouting,” Danny sighs. “It’s not a slight against your hosting abilities.”

Steve’s lack of protest confirms Danny’s suspicion. “I just wanted it to be a good day for them, that’s all,” he mutters as he picks up a box of equipment he organised the night before and left on the lanai. 

“It will be, Steve,” Danny assures him, taking one of the crate handles, the two of them moving naturally to balance the weight between them. “Look, if I was out and Grace was going to a friend’s house and possibly the beach, what would you pack for her?”

“Why are you out?”

“What?”

“Why are you not home and Grace is here and wants to leave?”

Danny rolls his eyes. “It’s a hypothetical situation, Steve. What does it matter why I am out?”

“If you were gone on an errand, she would have to wait until you got back. Are you on an errand?”

“I’m at the shops,” Danny sighs, regretting starting the conversation but knowing now Steve has the idea in his head, there is no tactical retreat. And he will never surrender.

“‘Honey we ran out of bread’ at the shops or ‘damnit Steve, we worked a week straight to get these drug runners and now there isn’t a single thing left to eat in the house including in the apocalypse pantry’ at the shops?

“Why do I even bother?” Danny puts his side of the crate in the middle of the lawn and Steve follows suit. “What things does Grace need for the beach?” 

“Sunscreen, hat, towel…” Steve starts rattling off a list and pauses. “Oh.”

“He gets it,” Danny raises his hands to the sky in exaggerated relief. “It wasn’t a slight, it’s just what parents do.”

“You could have just told me that, Danno,” Steve pulls a face. Not pouting. 

“But where’s the fun in that?” Danny grins. “And Steve?” 

“Yeah?”

“If I’m ever out restocking the zombie supplies and Grace asks you to take her to the beach with her friends, you’re allowed to say yes, okay?”

“I am?” he darts a furtive look at the group of girls, the part-time resident amongst them.

“You are,” Danny nods. “You goof.”

Steve’s face lights up as he smiles back at Danny. “Okay.”


	19. Chapter 19

Once all the girls have their stuff stowed in the new shed, Steve gathers everyone in the shade down by the edge of the sand. Danny wonders if the Navy man is tempted to shout out ‘fall in’ and have the girls stand in straight lines but doesn’t want to ask. It would just give him ideas.

“Welcome, everyone,” Steve begins. “I’m, uh, really looking forward to today. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun.” He shoots his partner a look across the girls’ heads. He’s uncharacteristically rattled. 

“Just remember,” Danny says firmly. “No matter what he tells you, you are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and you will not be court-martialed if you tell me where the marshmallows are.”

The girls laugh and Grace rolls her eyes. “Give it up, Danno.”

“Never.”

Steve, having taken the time during the exchange to compose himself again, smiles down at the group by his feet. “Well we thought that today we would do some games and have a bit of a competition. Who wants to be on the red team and who wants to be on the blue team?”

To make it fair, the men had already decided to let the girls sort themselves into two groups, one of three and one of four. All the activities they have planned do not hinge on needing even numbers so nobody will miss out or have to take extra turns to be fair. When the two teams have been decided, Danny hands Grace a red cloth from the box of supplies and instructs her to roll it into a ball in one hand, and hold it behind her back. 

“G’head, Steve,” Danny bows graciously and exaggeratedly, garnering another round of laughter from the girls. “Pick a hand to find out which team is yours.”

“Left,” Steve points and Grace holds out her empty palm. “Blue team it is then,” he smiles. “Okay, who’s with me?”

The group of four hold up their hands and step forward. 

“Excellent,” Steve rubs his hands together. “Prepare to lose, Danno.”

“Uh, Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Ixnay the ashtray alktay, okay?”

 

The SEAL mouths the words to himself before looking at the other team sheepishly. “Okay. Sorry. It’s not about winning, girls,” he says with as much sincerity as he can summon. “It’s about working together and learning some skills.”

“Yeah right,” Danny grins. “Red team’s gonna whoop your butts!” His team cheers and they high five each other. 

Steve scowls over their heads. “Oh, it’s on, Danny,” he threatens. “You are going down.”

Danny just smiles. He does have a great comeback to that but not with the seven little chaperones all around them. 

 

* * *  
After the good-natured ribbing has run its course, the teams retreat to opposite sides of the garden to plan their attacks. The girls are excited and Steve wants to harness the energy before they go from enthusiastic to hyperactive. 

“Danno?” he calls out across the yard and waits for his friend to look up. “Ready?”

Danny nods back and using the hand signals they use on the job, Steve counts down and reaches into his pocket, Danny doing the same. They each pull out the first part of the activity at the same time and hand it to their team. 

“It’s a clue!” Caitlyn realises, reading the slip of paper. “ _I’m a noun and a verb and I’m something you make. I am done by a snake or where you keep a rake_.”

“Oh it’s the shed!” Grace shouts loudly from across the grass, the rest of her team shhh her loudly but it’s too late. 

The blue team sprints over to join the red and all seven girls clamor their way inside and over their bags. They easily find the two rectangular plastic crates stacked in the corner, that they missed before with all the excitement. 

“Oh it’s heavy,” Riley grunts when she tries to pick one up. “Steve?”

Her team leader shakes his head. “Work it out.” 

The four blue team girls each take a corner of the box and carefully step over all their bags and back out the door. 

“You have one less person,” Danny asks his team. “I can help if you want.”

“No,” Amy says, determined. “We can do it.” She points to the sides of the box about a third of the way along. “Grace go on that side, Lisa on the other. I’ll go on the far end and it should be pretty even to carry.” After a rocky start, Grace shuffles along the side a little and the girls are able to get the box out and onto the grass. 

The blue team already has the contents unpacked and arranged in neat piles and Steve has brought two long, white pipes over from the side of the house. He brings one over to where the red team has set their box down. 

“You got the ball, Danny?” 

“I thought you had the balls?” the detective frowns, waving his hand at Steve’s pants. “You put them in one of your pockets.” 

“So, what you’re saying is that you don’t have the balls for this game.”

Grace snickers. “I think Steve’s worried we will beat them,” she says to her dad. “It’s okay,” she says seriously, “I’ll still love you when you lose.”

“That’s my girl,” Danny grins. “Now, you, get out of here so we can plan our attack,” he shoos Steve back across the yard and turns to his team. “Oh wait,” he turns back, “Steve, I need the…” the small white object hits him square in the chest and falls to the grass at his feet, “Ball.” He picks it up with a scowl and takes it to his girls. 

“Okay, this goes in here,” he drops the ball in the pipe and hands it to Lisa. “We have to get the ball out.”

“You can use anything in the yard,” Steve explains to his team. “The things from the crate or anything else that is lying around.”

“You can’t go in the house, where the grass meets the lanai is the limit there,” Danny points, “The fences are the side boundaries and you can go as far as you want that way,” he points to the ocean. 

“On the count of three?” Steve calls across.

Danny nods. “One.”

“Two.”

“Three!” The girls answer and each group scrambles to get their pipes standing up. The balls, naturally, fall to the very bottom and out of reach. The pipes are too narrow for any of their arms to fit and taller than Grace. 

“We can’t tip it?” Suzy frowns at Steve.

“No.”

“Can we set the pipe on fire and burn one of the holes bigger to get the ball out?” Amy asks Danny.

“Do you have matches in your pocket? Because I don’t see any in the box and you can’t go in the house.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “But we could call for…”

Grace coughs loudly and looks at her friend with wide eyes.

“Um, never mind,” Amy looks at her feet and sighs. 

A couple of minutes pass as the teams examine their pipes which they now see have about forty small holes drilled into them. 

Lucy, blue team, crouches by theirs and looks at Steve. “How much does a ping pong ball weigh?”

The SEAL shrugs. “Don’t know. Why?”

“What if we blow air in the hole and make it fly up like a lotto ball?”

Steve laughs at her description. “How do you know what a lotto ball looks like, young lady?” he wonders, considering there is no state lottery in Hawaii.

“ _It Could Happen to You_ ,” she shrugs. “My mom thinks Nicolas Cage is dreamy.”

“Oh she does, does she?” 

“Yup. She thinks you’re quite a catch too, but don’t tell her I said that.”

Steve chokes a little and the girls laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” God he hopes that Danny doesn’t find out about this, he’ll never hear the end of it. “Okay, how about we get back to the task at hand?” 

The blue team spends the next few minutes going through the contents of their plastic box, trying to find something that is either long enough or thin enough to get the ball out. 

Danny’s group is doing the same and wondering if they will be at a disadvantage having one less team member, despite Steve’s earlier assurances. 

The two men leave their groups and meet in the middle of the grass for a Sit Rep. 

“They aren’t really thinking about it,” Danny looks at his group who are peering through the holes of the pipe. 

“Are they looking for the easy way out too?” Steve asks. 

“Yeah,” Danny nods. “And not trying to find a way that involves all of them.”

“Okay then,” Steve whistles sharply and all the girls look up. 

“Hey,” Danny hisses, “Is that really a good idea, considering, y’know?” He shoots a quick look at the upstairs balcony but can’t see their scaly black friend responding to Steve’s loud whistle.

“Oops,” he looks steadfastly at the ocean, not wanting to turn and draw more attention to the possibility of ‘Uke making an appearance. “We okay?”

“I think so,” Danny nods. “I can’t wait until we don’t have to hide him anymore.”

“Me either,” he agrees. “Okay,” he calls out to the girls. “Bring it in.” He waves the girls over.

“Is it over?” Riley frowns.

“No,” Steve says slowly. “But I think we need to rethink what we’re doing.” 

“What do you think the aim of today is?” Danny asks gently.

The answers vary from having fun to learning and include all the things Steve said in his little speech at the start. 

“Working together with our teams,” Lucy adds. 

“Right,” Steve nods. “Look, it’s like me and Danny at Five-0. We have two other people on our team too, Chin and Kono. They’re great at stuff like computers. Danno does okay with it, despite his goofy thumbs…”

“Hey!”

“You know it’s true, Dad,” Grace laughs. “Last week when the field trip busses were blocking the street outside school, you texted me you’d pick me up at the coroner across the road.”

Danny scowls. “To be fair, I use the word coroner a lot. More than any normal person should have to.”

“We’re getting off the point,” Steve sighs. “We can’t do what we do without the two of them. We’re a team.”

“You guys need to stop thinking about how _you_ can get the ball out, because honestly, I don’t think you can. Steve spent an hour working out where to put all the holes. Think about how you can use your whole team to do it.”

“Think about the boundaries we set. They are specific. Everything you need is available to you. Okay?” Steve adds.

The girls nod enthusiastically and head back to their areas to rethink their approaches. Caitlyn regards the pipe then narrows her eyes thoughtfully, looking up at Steve. 

“Where can we go?” she asks. 

“Edge of the lanai, side fences, as far as you want,” he points in each direction, ending with the ocean. “Within reason. I’m not going to swim to Mexico to bring you back.”

All the girls giggle except Caitlyn who looks seriously at the pile of stuff from the box. “We could use water.”

“In the pipe?” Riley asks. 

“Oh the ping pong ball will float!” Suzy realises. “That’s a good idea.”

They decide on a slotted spoon to bring water from the ocean. Steve, devious as he is, has left it as the most viable option. It takes them five minutes of shuffling back and forth in a clump with hands held around and under the spoon to get the pipe filled to the first hole. 

Danny’s red team come to a similar conclusion on their own. They use the full extent of the boundaries to get a water bottle from Amy’s backpack instead of using the provided spoon. They realise after the first awkward attempt that they need to climb on the plastic box to reach the top of the pipe.

Over the next half hour, both teams invent creative ways to get the ball out of the pipe. The red team, with their more efficient water delivery method use the rest of their team to block the holes with their fingers, raising the water level and getting the ball to a fair height. They realise after they run out of fingers that there is tape in the box of supplies and after attaching leaves to the outside of the pipe, soon get the ball to the top.

The blue team gives up on the water pretty quickly after realising they had no chance of keeping up with the reds and their bottle. They instead are inspired by Caitlyn when she thinks of a marble game her little brother makes her play all the time. They use thin sticks from the garden, stuck through the holes in the pipe and out the other side, to edge the ball up the pipe bit by bit. 

In the end, both groups get their ping-pong ball out of the pipe and are well and truly ready for a cold drink while they share their triumphs with their friends.


	20. Chapter 20

When everyone is refreshed, the group reconvenes on the lanai, gathering around the large wooden table. Danny brought the chairs from the dining room so there are enough seats for everyone. Steve brings a box from the study and the girls crane their necks to see inside. 

“Who can tell me,” Steve asks as he takes his seat, “What a National Park is?”

A few of the girls frown or look thoughtful but nobody speaks. 

“Anyone?”

“I don’t really know how to say it,” Riley tilts her head and thinks. “They are special places.”

“They are special, Riley.” Steve nods, smiling. “What makes them special?”

“Is this a trick question?” Grace asks suspiciously, looking for all the world like her dad when he’s asking Steve if he really took all the grenades out of the trunk. 

Steve can’t help but laugh. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because they’re all different. The Grand Canyon is a National Park and Independence Hall is a National Park.”

“A building can’t be a National Park,” Suzy protests.

“It can. We went there didn’t we, Danno?”

Danny nods. “You remember that?” Grace had only been five when they went one weekend when Rachel’s friends had visited from England and wanted to see the site of the Declaration. 

“Yup,” Grace nods enthusiastically. “We had cheese steaks on the way home.”

Steve laughs. “I don’t suppose they were Ono cheese steaks?” he teases. 

“Do not start with me, Steven,” Danny scowls and the girls laugh, the mainlander’s particular ideas about the corruption of East Coast food having become well known over the last few weeks the troop has spend together. 

“The so called offerings of this island do not compare to a real, Philly cheese steak. They might not be from New Jersey but if you want the best, you go to Pat’s. You gotta know what you want or they send you to the back of the line. None of this island time business.”

“Oh that sounds like great customer service,” Steve says sarcastically.

Danny ignores him. “We went to Independence Hall when Grace was little and like Riley said, it’s a really special place because it was the start of our country as we know it. It’s a National Historical Park.”

“And we have to look after it,” Amy nods firmly. 

“Right,” Steve mentally thanks Danny for getting the conversation back on track and not letting it digress into an argument about the definition of a National Park. He really should have seen that coming. “So what National Parks do we have in Hawaii?”

“The volcanos on the Big Island.”

“And?”

Nobody answers. 

“Danny?” Steve prompts. 

“Oh no,” the detective shakes his head. “You’re on your own, Babe. I don’t do hiking and nature and bugs and mud.”

“Fair enough. Well there are a few others,” Steve decides not to go into specifics since the chances of island hopping for a troop campout are slim. “Most of you have probably been to the only National Park on Oahu or been driving past it all your lives.”

“Oh,” Lisa realises. “Pearl Harbor and the memorials.” 

“Right,” Steve nods. “On Oahu we have great State Parks with trails and camp grounds.” He reaches in to the box and pulls out a neatly folded map of Oahu and spreads it on the table. 

“Can you find where we are?” 

After a few moments, the group find the right area for the house and Grace narrows it down by finding the large park that is just up the road. They then find their own houses and Danny points out Five-0 headquarters in the middle of town. 

“Okay, I’ve got some brochures here about the different State Parks that have camp areas and trails that might be suitable for us to use.”

“For a campout?” Lucy asks nervously. 

“Maybe,” Steve shrugs casually. “Would that be okay with you guys?”

Most of the girls nod but Lucy shrugs back. “I guess.” Steve knows that she had some nightmares after the disastrous trip a couple of years ago and Lucy’s mom was really proud that she wanted to stay in the Aloha Girls. 

“Well nothing is planned yet,” Danny assures her. “But we thought that it would be good practise anyway, to think about what kind of things you’d like to do on a trip and find places that offer them.”

“That sounds okay,” Lucy nods, picking up the brochure on the ‘Iao Valley State Park and opening it. The other girls follow suit and are soon trying to find the different places on the large map. 

Steve and Danny take a few steps away from the kids so they can talk. 

“You think it will work,” Steve asks. After talking with Angela and some of the other parents, they thought perhaps having the girls involved in planning a hypothetical trip would get them excited to go out again. The troop hasn’t had an overnight stay together since the incident where Danny was shot and Lucy and Steve forced through the jungle at gunpoint. 

“Yeah, maybe,” Danny watches the girls. “It’s putting the idea out there and that’s the main thing.

“And they’re having fun,” Steve adds. “Right?”

“Yes,” Danny rolls his eyes. “They’re having fun you goof. Half of them have a massive crush on you and they’d probably find picking up garbage on the side of the freeway fun if you planned it for them.”

“I just have that effect on people,” Steve grins, ducking to the side when Danny tries to swat him on the arm.

“Just keep telling yourself, that,” he laughs. “And go and set up the next game already.”

* * * 

Forty-five minutes later, the girls have a short list of places they might like to visit, even just for a day trip, and Steve has set up the yard on the front side of the house. The girls follow Danny around to join him by the gate. 

“Okay, rule number one with National Parks is to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photos,” Steve holds up a bucket which he had left hanging over a fence picket. “The rule should apply to State Parks too, not because it’s necessarily the law like a National park but because things you leave behind could endanger the environment or an animal.”

“Like turtles eating plastic bags,” Amy says.

“Right. Okay, I’ve hidden twelve things in this part of the yard that do not belong in nature. Find them and put them in the bucket.”

The girls look a little sceptical as they trail away to search the garden beds.

“You have three minutes,” Danny adds, setting the timer on his phone, and suddenly they scramble to find everything. 

When Danny calls them back they have found eleven out of the twelve things and everyone sits under the large plumeria tree to go through the bucket. 

“Okay,” Steve holds up a plastic bag. “Amy already gave us one bad thing this could do, a turtle that eats it won’t be able to swim properly or eat and will slowly starve to death. What else could this do if you left it behind in a park?” 

The girls answers range from stopping plants growing to still washing out to sea from a river and killing a turtle. They go through the other items, rope that might tangle and kill an animal, an empty tin that could cut an animal or another park user. 

When they’re finished, the girls are all hungry and ready to head back around the back for lunch. They collect simple salad items and rolls from the kitchen and then sit together under the trees by the shore. Danny takes the time to get ‘Uke from upstairs and take him out the front to have a quick stretch and ‘use the bushes’ as he’s lately taken to calling the animal’s impossibly large poops. They’re lucky that the property is so large and that the front yard is so long and narrow, the seventy year old trees completely hiding the house from the busy street.

After they’ve eaten, the girls take turns using the downstairs bathroom to change into their swim suits. The next hour is spent ganging up on Steve in the ocean while Danny laughs comfortably afloat an inflatable ring. Under the guise of ‘relaxing’ he is actually keeping an eagle eye on all the girls as they splash about and race each other from one side of the property line to the other. 

 

He should have known however that his enjoyment would be short lived when Grace and Amy sneak up from behind him and tip the ring, sending Danny into the water amidst seven delighted shrieks and one booming laugh. It’s on for young and old after that, a massive water fight ensues which once its finished has left the shore wet halfway up to the grass. 

Steve can’t help but think of this as a good thing as the final challenge, for safety reasons he won’t be calling it a game, is for the girls to use various supplies to light the fires they need to cook their dinner. He is determined to find out how they have been so good at getting the small marshmallow fires going, even with wet wood and far fewer matches than is likely. He’s sure one of them must have been sneaking in a lighter which is concerning on several levels. 

 

When they’ve had enough time in the water, the girls help dig a row of three shallow dips to light the fires in. They quickly rinse the sand off in the ocean and since the day is warm, decide to stay in their swimmers, putting their clothes back on once they’ve dried out. After lounging around for half an hour or so, it’s time to get the fires going so there will be some coals for roasting potatoes as well as the flames for the BBQ they have planned. 

 

“Okay,” Steve gathers the troop around, a box of supplies at his feet, “We’re going to have a bit of a competition to practise one of the most important survival skills you can learn. If you ever get lost and need to make a fire to keep warm you can use some of these ideas.”

“Why can’t we just use matches?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah, we always take matches with us when we go camping,” Amy nods.

Steve frowns. He thought they’d enjoy this and hadn’t expected protests or complaint. He’s not used to people arguing with him. Well, except for Danny. He usually complains that Steve starts fires far too easily.

 

Almost as if he has read Steve’s mind, Danny answers for him. “What if it rains?” he asks the girls. 

“Keep the matches in a plastic bag,” Caitlyn answers.

 

“You’ve fallen down crossing a stream and the bag had a tiny tear in it, the matches are wet and won’t strike,” Danny counters. 

Grace frowns. “We… uh…”

“A lighter?” Suzy says, making Steve wonder if she’s the one who has been sneaking one over to use.   
“It’s run out,” Danny answers, making the girls scowl. 

“So,” Steve asks. “How are you starting your fire?” He crouches down and gently tips the contents of the box out onto the grass and the girls sit around him in a semi circle. 

“What’s this?” Lucy picks up a small pile of fuzz and runs its between her fingertips. 

“Ordinary dryer lint.”

“Can you set it on fire?” 

“You can. If you have the right things to use with it,” Steve says enigmatically. “So, do we want to have a competition or just work it out together?”

The girls look at one another and shrug. 

“I think we should just do the fires,” Grace says. “I want to learn lots of ways to do it not just one.”

“Okay, good idea.” Steve picks up a mirror. “If you got stuck somewhere, maybe you’re on holidays and there is a storm or your family is on vacation and the car breaks down by the road, where could you get a mirror?”

“The car has mirrors,” Riley suggests. “Maybe take one of the unimportant ones. My mom has extra little circle ones on the side. They make me dizzy when I look in them.”

“Okay, good,” Steve nods. “How can you use a mirror to start a fire?”

“Is it like using a magnifying glass to burn ants?” Grace asks. 

“Grace! That’s horrible,” Danny frowns. 

“Some of the boys at school were doing it,” she explains. “The teacher stopped them.”

“Okay, good,” he nods. “But essentially, yes. You use the mirror to focus the sun’s light and create heat. The lens out of reading glasses works the same way.”

“How do you know that, Danno?” Grace asks innocently. 

“Yeah,” Caitlyn laughs. “I thought you got kicked out of scouts.”

“I never said I got kicked out because I was bad,” he reminds them. 

"That's not what I heard," Steve snorts.

"At being a scout, wise ass and do you mind, there are children present!"

“So,” Grace quizzes, “What’d you do?”

“What is this, an interrogation?” Danny laughs nervously. 

“Yes,” eight voices answer keenly. 

“Geez, we should hire them to work for us, Steve,” he jokes.

“Answer the question, Danno,” Grace coaxes. 

Steve nods, “Yeah, answer the question, Danno.”

“Alright, alright.” Danny sighs dramatically. “You remember me telling you about my friend Ricky Bonaduce who smuggled in babyback ribs?”

They all nod eagerly. 

“Well,” Danny grins, “I brought the sauce.”

Grace gasps. “No way!”

“Yes way,” Danny laughs. “I smuggled it in an empty hair gel tin. Only, I didn’t rinse it so good before I put the sauce in and everyone who ate it got the runs in the worst way. They were so sick that they caved as soon as the leaders asked what they’d eaten and me and Ricky were sent home that night.”

“Oo I bet Nana was mad,” Grace says soberly. 

“You have no idea,” Danny shudders. “I couldn’t sit down for a week after the spanking I got! And I got grounded for two.”

“And you thought I’d be the bad influence here,” Steve laughs. “I should have known you got kicked out for something food related.”

Danny shrugs. “They were good ribs.”


	21. Chapter 21

Steve, Danny and the girls talk through some of the other things that can be used to light fires in an emergency situation. Riley and Caitlyn, convinced that they can do it like they’ve seen in movies, rub two sticks together with furious determination. After ten minutes, they give up with sore arms and confused frowns. 

“Why won’t it work?” 

“As you’ve just discovered, it’s actually very hard,” Steve explains. “You’ve got to have just the right balance between the hardness of the sticks. You’ve heard about hardwood and softwood before?”

Most of the girls nod, even if they don’t know the specifics, they understand the general idea. 

“You can’t just get any old sticks and magically make a fire,” Danny remembers learning the same lesson back when he was a kid and bet his brother he could do it. He lost twenty bucks, three months of allowance savings. “Same goes for rocks. Some won’t do anything at all, the right kind makes a little spark when you strike it against another rock and when you do it really close to something very, very flammable, we call that tinder, you can start a fire.”

“Like the dryer lint?” Lucy remembers. 

Steve nods. “Right. In an emergency, you can try if you’ve got nothing else but it’s better to be able to think about what you do have. Like the mirrors or glasses, a water bottle, although this takes longer.”

“You can use a soda can too, if you use toothpaste to polish up the bottom curve and aim it so the sun reflects off and onto your tinder.”

The girls seem excited by the prospect of having an excuse to take soda on camping trips and Steve decides it’s time to put some of these ideas into action as the forecast showers look like they might make an appearance and he wants to get the fires going strongly so a light rain won’t put them out.

“Okay, let’s all choose how we want to try and make a fire and take what we need down onto the sand.”

The girls select their items: a magnifying glass, empty water bottle, soda can. Lucy keeps the dryer lint and chooses a handful of rocks that she wants to try and make spark. Grace goes last, choosing a weird metal thing that kind of looks like a flat hook. 

“You’ll need this,” Steve reaches into the pocket near the knee of his cargo pants and hands her a small fold up knife. “You chose a good one, but you need to wait for me or Danno, okay?”

She nods, “Yup.”

The group gathers around the shallow holes they had dug earlier and the girls set to work bringing some wood from the pile at the side of the house. 

“Does anyone have wet wood?” Steve asks, knowing full well that some of the pile is damp. He wet it himself earlier that morning. 

He’s answered with a chorus of nods and yeses.

“Grace, what do you have that you can use to get some dry wood?”

She looks at the things next to her hole. “Oh the knife,” she picks it up. “We can peel the bark back to get to dry wood underneath.” She starts picking carefully at a piece near her hole, removing the outermost layer. 

While Danny supervises to make sure the girls each do a piece safely, Steve brings over more dry wood. They might be making a point and learning something important but he’d still like to eat before midnight. When each girl has cut a small pile of dry slithers, they put them in the three holes and arrange the wood inside then set to work trying to harness their chosen method of fire starting. 

Amy lucks out and a brief parting of the clouds gives her a very strong beam to bounce off her coke can, setting light to the tinder and small pile of lint she procured from Lucy. The magnifying glass takes a little longer but does the job not long after. Danny sets to work showing the girls how to arrange increasingly larger logs around the small flames in a teepee and before long, one of the three pits has a good fire going. 

The other methods aren’t as successful with the clouds and the girls soon realize that survival is not as easy as it seems on the television. Lucy perseveres with her stones for a few more minutes but eventually concedes that it must not be the right kind of rock. Only Grace remains with the weird hook thing and Steve’s knife. 

“Okay, look at this,” Danny gets the girls’ attention and waits for them to gather. “It’s pretty much a fail proof way of starting a fire. It’s called a ‘flint and steel’ and is like the rocks Lucy was trying but works much, much better.” Danny crouches and picks a small clump of lint from one of the failed attempts at ignition and hands it to his daughter.

“Grace, hold this between your thumb and the knife and then quickly rub the blade against the steel.”

She tries but the knife falls to the ground. “I can’t do it,” she frowns. 

“Try again,” Steve encourages. “It takes a bit of practice.” 

 

After five more attempts, Grace is able to get a tiny spark but the lint doesn’t catch. Finally, after another few tries, she sees a wisp of smoke. 

“Blow on it,” Danny says. “Really gently.”

She puffs on the lint and a tiny flame appears. “What now?” she stands frozen, afraid to move in case it goes out again.

“Carefully put the lint with the rest of it in the hole and we’ll build it up like the others.”

In a few more minutes, the flames are large enough that Steve and Danny can transfer some logs from the two fires to start the third and everyone stands back and admire their hard work. 

“So,” Steve asks, brushing the sand off his hands. “What do you guys think is the most important thing you’ve learned doing this?”

Caitlyn looks from him to her friends before breaking into a wide grin. “Don’t get the matches wet!”

* * * 

With the fires well stoked against impending, light showers, Steve and Danny decide to let the girls be until it’s time to put the food on. They’ve had a full morning and the last thing they want to do is overload them with new information. They’ve got a surprise for the troop that they’re saving for later, when their families are here to share in it. 

 

While the troop hang out in the yard, sitting about under the trees and talking about whatever it is that twelve year old girls talk about when there aren’t grownups around, Steve and Danny work in the kitchen getting some of the mundane prep work done. 

“Hey, pass me that knife next to you,” Steve points with his head as he dumps two large handfuls of baby potatoes on the center island bench. 

“What, you can’t take two steps and get it yourself?” Danny grouches but passes the knife anyway. “Cut that one in half,” he points at a particularly large spud, “It’s bigger than the others and it won’t cook through.”

Steve nods and recognises that sometimes it’s just better to follow orders. When the rest of the potatoes are rinsed, he sets them to drain in the sink and dries off his hands. “Okay, I’ll take some food for ‘Uke before he starts eating the sheets.”

“Again,” Danny laughs. 

“Go out and check on the girls and keep them occupied while I sneak him out the front,” Steve throws over his shoulder as he leaves the kitchen. 

“Bossy,” Danny grouches to himself, knowing full well that he’ll do what Steve suggests anyway. It definitely takes the two of them to keep this secret going and he can’t wait until it’s out in the open. 

 

Danny’s just drying off his own hands when the back yard is filled with shrieks and the sky opens in a sudden deluge. This is definitely not one of the light, passing showers that were forecast. He runs towards the back door to call the girls in, crashing full force into Steve who is on his way back into the kitchen. They stumble together and Steve’s back slams into Danny’s bedroom door across the way. 

Steve instinctively puts his hands between them, bracing Danny and preventing the shorter man from crushing his nose against his shoulder. As much as Steve has to admit that he increasingly likes it when Danny shows affection with little touches, a broken nose is far from what he wants for his partner. 

 

“That’s it,” Danny scowls, resting his forehead on Steve’s chest in relief. He’s been shot at more times than he even wants to count up but running into Steve felt like crashing into a brick wall and the adrenaline spike has left the detective cranky. 

“I’m putting a fucking bell on you. No arguments you gigantic, clumsy…”Danny looks up and sees his partner’s horrified, ashen face. “Geez, Steve. I’m kidding.”

“He’s not up there,” Steve croaks, mouth dry and he swallows a few times to try and get it wet again. 

“What do you mean?” Danny pushes back and takes a step away so he can see Steve better, hand lingering on the distressed man’s forearm.

 

“‘Uke. He’s gone.”

Danny’s pretty sure that at that moment, all the blood drops to his stomach. He hasn’t felt like this since Grace was missing when she was nine. “What do you mean gone?”

“He’s not in my room and the doors onto the deck are wide open.”

“Oh God,” Danny slumps sideways against the wall and shakes his head. “God, Steve. What are we going to do? Someone will see him and then they’ll call… Who would they even call with a report of a dragon? We need to track him. Now. Get your phone,” Danny pushes Steve hard in the chest and storms past him. “Stop just standing there, get your phone and track him damnit!”

Danny starts pacing while Steve goes into the kitchen where he’d left his phone earlier. “What’re we gonna tell Grace? She’ll be devastated.”

“Danny, get in here.”

“Did you get the tracker going? How far has he got?” Danny walks into the kitchen and sees Steve’s phone lying on the counter, screen still black and obviously not being used to track the wayward dragon. “What the fuck, Steve?” he says angrily.

Steve points at the window and Danny cranes to see through the downpour that still rages outside. 

“Oh,” he slumps against the counter.

“So, it seems our timeframe just moved up a little,” Steve sighs. 

“Yeah. To right now.”

“Maybe it’s not the worst thing that could happen? A smaller sample group before we make an official announcement?” 

“You think that this will stay a secret for a single minute more?” Danny is trying hard not to freak out. And failing. “Our dragon is standing in the middle of the yard with an entire troop of Aloha Girls sheltering under his wings like they’re baby ducks,” he throws his hands up in the air and paces some more. “How is this in any way a good thing, Steven?”

Steve shrugs. “At least the girls are dry?” he suggests, only just ducking quickly enough to avoid the potato that Danny throws at him.


	22. Chapter 22

“Ok, Mr Wise Ass,” Danny clenches and unclenches his fists at his side, the potato rolling to a stop beside the dishwasher. “What do we do now?” 

“We go out there and find out what they know, I guess,” Steve looks out the window again. “It looks like the rain’s easing.”

“Oh good because that’s the biggest of our concerns right now,” Danny says sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“This is not my fault, Danny,” Steve hisses. “So you can just shut the hell up and if you’re not going to be helpful you can go and wait in your fucking room.”

“You can’t send me to my room,” Danny protests indignantly. “I’m not twelve.”

“Then start acting like it and think about how we are going to explain this to _your daughter’s_ friends.”

“Oh. Grace,” Danny’s face pales. “Rachel is going to be so pissed. Oh god, they’re going to kick Grace out of scouts.”

“No they’re not.”

“No parent is ever going to let their kid play with her again,” Danny insists. 

“Danny,” Steve grabs him firmly by the bicep and squeezes hard until the other man looks up at him, eyes wide. “You have to get a grip on yourself, Danno.”

“Right. Yeah,” he nods. “Get a grip.” 

“We can do this, okay?” Steve uses all his hostage negotiation skills to talk some calm back into his friend. “We were going to anyway. Let’s just go out there and talk to the girls and go from there, okay?” 

“Right,” he continues nodding. “Okay. Let’s do that.”

Steve turns his friend in place and gently nudges him in the back so he starts walking, keeping a reassuring hand in the small of the other man’s back as they walk through the house and out onto the lanai. 

Grace’s eyes go wide when she sees her father and Steve standing there, watching her and her friends. And her dragon. “Uh oh.” 

The other girls look from Grace to the adults and back again, mouths pressed in tight lines and Steve realizes that they are closing ranks on them. But despite everything, they don’t look afraid of ‘Uke. Or surprised by him. 

“Okay, all of you over here. Now,” Steve points to the ground in front of him.

The girls shuffle towards the lanai, ‘Uke taking small steps and keeping his wings stretched out over their heads like two giant, scaly umbrellas. 

“We can explain,” Grace starts but she falters under Steve’s fierce glare. 

“How long?” he asks and she knows that this is not the time for any smart alec answers. 

Instead, Grace looks down at her feet. “Since the first day everyone came over to start building the shed,” she says sadly, not in any doubt just how much trouble she is in. “Don’t punish him,” she insists. “It’s not ‘Uke’s fault. He hates having to stay inside.”

“Okay, that’s enough, Grace,” Steve says, less crossly than before. “Girls, I am sorry but I have to ask, did any of you tell anyone else about ‘Uke?”

Six heads shake vigorously. “No, we didn’t,” Lucy says adamantly. “We thought he was supposed to be a secret.”

“He was,” Steve glares at the dragon. “He still _is_.” 

For the first time, ‘Uke shrinks back, taking a step away from the girls and lowering his wings. 

Steve sighs loudly and Grace swallows hard, determined not to cry in front of her friends. “There are towels in the linen closet outside Grace’s room,” he tells the girls. “Go inside, dry off and change your clothes while Danny and I work out what we’re going to tell your parents.” 

The girls nod soberly and file past the partners, wordlessly slipping their sodden flip-flops off at the door. 

“Not you,” Steve says softly when Grace tries to follow her friends inside. “I’m disappointed, Grace. You put ‘Uke in danger. You realize that, right?”

Grace frowns. “It’s not like I snuck him out to meet them,” she defends. “He came out on his own and started helping us when you and Danno weren’t looking.”

“ _He_ lit the fire for you all those times?”

Grace nods. “Yeah. Everyone likes him. A lot.”

“Well, not everyone is going to like him as much as your friends do,” Steve warns her. “They’ve been coming here for weeks with a dragon on the loose and when their parents find out, some of them are probably going to be pretty angry. They trusted me and your dad to keep their daughters safe.”

“‘Uke isn’t dangerous.”

“But they don’t know that. They don’t know him like we do,” Steve explains. “Can you imagine what your dad would do if he found out that you had been keeping a secret like this from him?”

Grace looks at her father, who until this point has remained uncharacteristically silent. “No,” she says sadly. “Danno? Please say something.” She loses her battle not to cry and hot tears begin slipping down her cheeks.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Grace,” Danny exhales slowly. “We trusted you. You were always an equal in this thing with ‘Uke, we never treated you like you were stupid or that you couldn’t help take care of him and you repay us by lying for weeks.”

“Go inside and get changed,” Steve tries to wipe the streak of tears from Grace’s face but she shirks back and wipes them with her own sleeve instead. “Use my bathroom, take a hot shower and come down when you’re ready.”

“What about my friends?”

“We’ll put a movie on and they can hang out inside.” Steve looks out over the ocean where angry storm clouds still swirl. “I don’t think the cookout will be possible now anyway, the fires are out. We’ll just order pizza.”

Grace nods and with another loud sniff, goes inside after her friends. 

“What’re we going to do with her?” Danny asks sadly. 

“She’s your daughter, Danny. It’s not really up to me.”

Danny smiles weakly. “We’re in this together, right?”

“Mi dragon es su dragon,” Steve nods. “I’m pretty sure the stress of the next few days is going to be punishment enough for her,” he muses. 

“I don’t know. She risked a lot not telling us as soon as her friends saw him.”

“She’s twelve, Danny,” Steve defends. “We shouldn’t have asked her to lie in the first place.”

“We didn’t.”

“She knew she couldn’t tell anyone. It’s the same thing.”

Danny sighs. “I guess we should go in. I need to call Rachel, have her come early so Ic can tell her what’s been going on here. And hope she doesn’t’ try and take Grace away again since I endangered her with a wild animal. 

“She can’t take her,” Steve says firmly. 

“Oh, Babe. You can’t promise that,” Danny smiles ruefully. “And besides the issue of my ex-wife, there’s the girls to deal with. They’ve probably all got questions and we still have six families to feed tonight. If they bother staying to eat after we tell them.”

“They will,” Steve says, surely. “And Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s seven.”

“Seven what?”

“Seven families to feed,” he pulls his friend to him and both their arms come up to wrap the other in a tight embrace. “Because that includes us too.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first new chapter since the International Dragon Council redacted the entire story... Hope you enjoy the rest :)

“Rachel, thanks for coming early,” Steve opens the door with a tight smile and hopes that she can’t see how nervous he is. 

Rachel nods, shaking out her umbrella and placing it in the stand outside the door. “It’s no trouble, Steve,” she says calmly. “Charlie is having a late nap so all Stan has to do is get him dressed to come later.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“You’d be surprised,” Rachel laughs. “He can be quite squirmy when he doesn’t get his own way.”

“I don’t suppose you can order a two year old to stand at attention while you inspect his uniform?”

“Not so much, no,” her eyes sparkle with mischief. “But you’re more than welcome to try, the next time he wants to wear his pyjama pants to playgroup.” 

“So outside my area of training,” Steve decides. “You’re on your own.”

“Thanks,” she deadpans. “I must admit though that I am rather curious. Usually my ex-husband does all within his power to avoid my company.”

Steve can’t but help hear the hint of sadness in her voice, no matter how much she tries to hide it behind a dry wit. He might even go so far as to call it regret and it makes him wonder how things could have done so horribly wrong between two otherwise cool people. What he knows for sure is that it isn’t his place to comment. He settles for a little obfuscation. 

“Not when it involves Grace.”

“True,” she nods. “Speak of the devil,” she says as Grace comes into the living room and runs over, throwing her arms around her mother. “Did you have a nice morning?” she asks. 

Grace shrugs against her. “I guess.”

Rachel looks at Steve questioningly and he swallows. “Danny’s waiting out the back,” he indicates the other side of the living room where the six girls are sprawled about, halfway through _Brave_. “So we can talk in private.”

“Okay then,” she frowns, releasing Grace and brushing back the stray hairs that have escaped from the girl’s ponytail. 

Grace smiles up at her as surely as she can. “It’s nothing bad.”

“We hope,” Steve adds. “But it does involve Grace so we know you need to be involved too. Look, it’s probably easier if you come through and let Danny explain. I can only imagine what you must be thinking.”

Rachel looks at the handsome leader of the state’s task force and wonders if he really has any idea at all. “Alright then. Grace?”

“I’ll stay with my friends,” she says, having already decided with Steve and her dad that it would be better for them to introduce her mom to ‘Uke alone. On account of the whole ‘there’s a dragon standing next to my daughter’ thing. 

Rachel nods and kisses Grace on the head before following Steve through the dining room and out onto the lanai. Danny stands when they approach, pulling out a chair for his ex-wife. 

“Can I get you something to drink?” Steve asks once she’s settled. 

Rachel nods towards Danny’s old mug on the table. “Some coffee would be lovely.”

“There is tea if you prefer,” Steve offers. 

Rachel laughs. “I do drink coffee. It’s okay, they won’t revoke my British citizenship for choosing it.”

“Okay then,” Steve chuckles. “I’ll be right back.” He disappears back into the house.

“My this has come a long way, hasn’t it?” Rachel asks, running her fingertip down the handle of Danny’s mug that used to sit on his desk back in the police department in New Jersey. He always kept it there since it was where he would get the most use out of it. She’s surprised to see it here at Steve’s house and not in the Five-0 offices and wonders what this says about the two of them. “You were so proud when you opened it, your first Father’s Day gift.”

Danny shrugs. “More what it symbolized than the gift itself.” He turns it, angling it just so so he can see the faded picture of a monkey in a diaper, proudly proclaiming _‘Happy Father’s Day_ ’. “I don’t know why I kept it all these years.”

“Don’t be silly,” Rachel scoffs. “Of course you do. It might have been purchased by me but it was definitely ‘from’ Grace. She’s been your little monkey, right from the moment you met her.”

“She has,” he agrees. “Although she seems to be more of a cheeky monkey these days.”

“Has Grace done something wrong?” Rachel asks, still wondering why she was effectively summoned to come early.

“Not really,” Danny sighs. “She did keep a secret from us that could have had pretty bad consequences but everything is okay. Actually that’s why we asked you over before the other parents.”

“You and Steve?”

“Yeah.”

“Have a secret?” Rachel raises an eyebrow suggestively. “That you think I don’t already know about.”

“Um, yes?” Danny frowns. There is no way that Rachel can know. Grace swore on her cheerleading pom poms that she hadn’t told her mother.

“Oh Danny,” she laughs, swatting him playfully on the arm. “If I hadn’t been a work widow for all the years we were married, I would honestly doubt the fact that you are a detective.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I am good at detecting.”

“Criminals, yes,” she agrees, looking up as Steve returns and places a mug on the table by her hand. “But in your personal life?” 

“Be careful,” Steve says seriously. “He’ll start lecturing you about rules and comparing you to wild animals if you’re not careful.”

Danny groans. “Once!” he protests. “I did that once, and you had just got me shot in the arm. After knowing me for three hours. Will you please, for the love of God, let it go.”

“You’re telling me to let things go?” Steve laughs. “Really? Mr ‘Pineapple is an abomination and the people on this island need to have their heads examined’?”

“I never said that pineapple itself is an abomination. Put it in a cocktail and it’s where it should be. A pina colada is not a pina colada without pineapple. Shave ice? Sure. But it does not, will not ever, belong on pizza.”

“I’d better not tell you what I ordered for dinner then,” Steve grins and Danny scowls, taking an angry sip of his now cold coffee. 

The two of them seem to have completely forgotten about Rachel, who is sitting quietly, watching them bicker back and forth. She wonders just how fast she’d need to run if she were to mention how scarily similar they sound to Danny’s mom and dad.

“I’m not sure,” she jumps in while the men stop to draw breath, “If I should bring up the opinion that the good people of Italy hold towards your precious New York style pizza, Daniel.” She tilts her head at Steve, “Or congratulate you, Commander, for how thoroughly you get him worked up in no time at all.” She takes a sip of her drink, smirking into the cup at the two men’s stunned expressions. 

“Uh,” Danny frowns. 

“As entertaining as this is,” Rachel continues, “The other girls’ parents will arrive shortly and might I suggest that if you are going to go making any big announcements, that you get on with it before you find yourselves doing it in front of a crowd.”

“We plan to tell the other parents,” Steve says.

“We just felt that you deserved to be told first,” Danny explains. “Since it’s going to have a more direct impact on Grace than anyone else and also, well…” He falters. 

“We hope for your blessing, Rachel. I guess that is the best way to put it,” Steve explains. “Although it sounds kind of funny putting it like that.”

“You’re telling me,” Rachel has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing at the men. “Really, nobody is going to be surprised. Of course you are going to run into narrow-minded idiots who will try to make things difficult for you going forward but it’s really not an issue. Not with me,” she says kindly. “Although I do appreciate you taking the time to tell me like this,” she adds. 

“Rachel, I really don’t think you…”

“Danny?” Steve interrupts his partner. “I think we should just show her, okay?”

“Show me?” she frowns. 

“Yeah,” Danny nods. “Yeah that’s good. I’ll just go inside and,” he points to the upstairs and Steve nods back. Danny goes in, taking his mug with him lest Rachel change her mind and use it as ammunition against the dragon. Or him.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Steve is still obtuse and Rachel is... Well, hopefully takes this better than anyone is expecting. How bad can it be?

Steve and Rachel sit, the silence between them awkward on her part and nervous on his. 

“I know Danny thinks I’m difficult on purpose,” Rachel sighs. “But I must admit, I’m a little disappointed that he thought I would make trouble over the two of you coming clean.”

“Well to be fair, you tried to stop him seeing Grace when there was, completely coincidentally, an incident at a football game.”

“That was four years ago,” she defends. “We’ve all changed a lot since then. We’re more settled and Danny, well, he’s like an entirely different, much less agitated man.” 

“Less agitated?”

“Oh yes,” Rachel nods. “You should have seen him back home when he was working on a case that just dragged out. He was impossible to live with. I couldn’t handle it,” she adds softly.

Steve wonders if this is at the heart of the reason the couple was not able to make it work. “He still gets like that.”

“I’m sure he does,” she smiles ruefully. “It’s what makes him good at his job. But I fear that I was not built to deal with it the way you are.” Rachel reaches out and places a gentle hand on Steve’s forearm. “You must see that you’re good for him. And Grace.”

Steve nods dumbly. 

“And whatever you do,” she continues, “Don’t fuck it up or I will come after you, no matter how much close quarters combat training you’ve had.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Steve laughs. 

“And,” Rachel pauses, “I kind of can’t believe I’m going to say this, you’re both grown men and it’s not really my business but…”

“What?” 

“Just, I assume you’ve had tests done and everything is… safe. I only ask for Grace’s sake. She’d be devastated to lose either of you.”

“Oh, yeah,” Steve nods surely. “We had an examination done and the bloodwork came back last week. No weird diseases or anything.”

“Ok, good,” Rachel is genuinely glad. “I won’t even ask about protection then.”

She’s surprised when Steve snorts loudly. 

“What?”

“Well, at first Danny insisted on wearing a leather BBQ apron. He looked like a deranged blacksmith.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“But then when we started with the obedience training, he decided that he didn’t need it. I did tell him he could wear his vest if he wanted but he decided it was more likely to melt than not. They’re not designed to hold up to flames.” Steve says it so earnestly. 

“Okay, that there is the very definition of entirely too much infor…” Rachel trails off when Danny returns through the dining room doors, ‘Uke trailing behind him. “...mation. Why is there a dragon standing next to my ex-husband?”

“Rachel,” Danny says as confidently as he can, “This is ‘Uke.”

“You have a dragon.”

“We do,” Steve steps forward to flank the other side of the animal. “He is ten weeks old and hatched from an egg that lay dormant in the house until Grace found it and left it by the hot water heater.”

“We’re sorry we didn’t tell you sooner,” Danny continues before Rachel can interrupt. Or he loses his nerve. “But we weren’t sure we would keep him until we had him seen by a vet and everything.”

“You have a dragon,” Rachel repeats. “Oh this makes so much more sense,” she nods. “It also explains why it's been a battle to keep Grace at home these last two months. She always liked coming here but it's been impossible.”

“Yeah,” Danny looks sheepish. “Sorry about that. She was with us when we found him and, well, you know Grace. There was no keeping her away after that.”

“Not that we’d want to keep her away,” Steve hurriedly adds.

“Of course not,” Rachel agrees. “What little girl wouldn’t love her very own dragon? Short of finding a unicorn living in the ginger bushes outside the Palace, there is little more she would want.”

“So,” Danny shrugs, “Yeah. Steve has a dragon.”

Steve coughs. 

“We have a dragon,” Danny corrects, glaring at his partner. 

“I can see that,” Rachel laughs. “Can I touch it?”

“Sure,” Steve gets ‘Uke to park it and fishes a marshmallow out of one of his pants pockets, brushing it off before handing it to Rachel. “Just hold it out and talk to him.”

“He’s pretty smart,” Danny explains. 

Steve grins. “Smarter than Danno. _He’s_ still trying to work out where the marshmallows live.”

“Why I ought to…”

“And just to confirm,” Rachel asks without taking her eyes off the dragon, rubbing her hand up and down his smooth muzzle like she had her horse growing up, “ _This_ is the big secret you had to tell me? And why you moved in here a few weeks ago?” They had at least told Rachel that part right away.

“What else would it be?” Steve frowns. 

Rachel sighs loudly, shaking her head, laughing when ‘Uke huffs back. “Nothing,” she grins. “Nothing at all. I take it the girls inside know already?”

“Yeah,” Danny steps up to rub at ‘Uke’s side, in the spot behind his ear that he likes. “We just found out that they’ve known for weeks, he snuck out when we were getting refreshments.”

“Well then,” Rachel looks through the doors to where the girls are still lying about watching the movie, “I imagine that Grace is rather worried so perhaps I ought to go in and tell her that everything is alright?”

“You don’t have any questions?” Steve asks. 

“Hey, don’t give her ideas, Steven,” Danny hisses.

Rachel laughs. “No. Not really. Surprised, Danny?” She sees his disbelief.

“Well, yeah.”

“I trust you. You wouldn’t put Grace in danger. I’ve come to see that since the football game which your partner so kindly reminded me of while you were inside. Several times since then you’ve put yourselves in harms way to keep her or her friends safe. Both of you have. All of your team actually. Why would you bother with that and then keep a dangerous animal around her? You’re not complete idiots. Not when it comes to Grace’s safety anyway.”

“Wow, Rach,” Danny rubs a hand through his hair, his relief palpable. “Thanks.”

“It’s kind of funny really,” Rachel chuckles. “The two of you have kind of been Hawaii’s knights in shining armour these last few years. Now you have the dragon to go with it.”

Danny scowls. “Be gone, you,” he issues the ‘at ease’ command so ‘Uke can follow her inside to Grace. “Well,” he says when she’s out of earshot. “That went really well.”

“I said it the first time I met her, Danny. Rachel’s cool.”

“Yeah well, you’ve never had to live with her.”

“True,” Steve agrees. “She said something before, about you being difficult to live with and that she thought we would have more luck.”

“Well, I haven’t killed you yet,” Danny deadpans. 

“Very funny,” Steve grunts. “She sounded pretty serious though. I think she’s glad you’re here.”

“Why? What else did she say?”

“Well it was kind of weird,” Steve admits. “She was talking about ‘Uke and asking questions about being safe and did we have tests done but then when you came out, she seemed surprised to see him.”

Danny sucks in a breath, pauses then bursts out laughing. “She asked… And you thought…” 

“What?”

Danny holds up his hand while he tries to catch his breath. 

Steve huffs impatiently. “What’s so funny?”

“Steve, she thinks we’re together,” Danny manages to say.

“Oh. Well, what’s new?” Steve frowns. “People joke about it all the time.”

“Babe, she’s not joking,” Danny calms down, seeing that Steve is genuinely confused. “My ex-wife thinks that we are not only dating but living together and making like rabbits while we build ourselves a family with a white picket fence, a kid and a dragon. She was asking about _us_ being safe while…” he waves a hand vaguely. “Y’know.”

“Oh,” Steve blinks a few times while his brain catches up, his face progressing through a comical array of expressions. “Oh! Well,” he breaks out into a grin. “For what it’s worth, she’s totally cool with that too.”

“Shut up.”

“Come to think of it, she was also strangely okay with the idea of you having a fire fetish. Is there something I need to know about?” Steve teases, yelping and sprinting away across the yard before Danny can catch him.


	25. Chapter 25

“I ordered five,” Steve rounds the wall from the kitchen and lifts one side of the large dining room table which Danny is trying to push into the corner. “With the potatoes and salad stuff we already have, that should be enough pizza for everyone.”

Danny grunts, taking up the other side. “That’s if they stay,” he says as they lower the piece into position. Since the rain has washed out the plans for the cook out, they decided that they needed to make a little more room inside. When the girls are finished with this last movie, they’ll get them to help move the recliner and coffee table aside too.

“They will,” Steve says with his usual level of confidence. “If Rachel isn’t worried then why would the other parents be? Grace sleeps here.”

“True.”

“I can’t say I’m happy to be doing this again,” Steve continues. “Explaining to people that we have a dragon and telling the story over and over again is stressful but hopefully this is the second last time we will have to do it. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Danny sighs. “Okay. You sure you don’t want to just create a diversion and make a run for it?”

Steve chuckles. “I think that ‘Uke is diversion enough, don’t you?”

“Probably,” Danny shrugs. “It just seems to go the same way every time anyway.”

“What does?”

“This conversation,” he explains, starting to set out piles of napkins and paper plates which they had already purchased for the BBQ. “Remember what Kono said about a love child?”

“Oh yeah,” Steve grins. “And the very long, very awkward conversation you had to have with Grace afterwards where you convinced her that we could not get her a new baby sister and that ‘Uke was already more than enough trouble.”

“And you. You’re trouble too.”

“Right. So?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Kono thought the same thing that Rachel did.”

“About you and me?” Steve frowns. “But she works with us. She sees us every day.”

Danny nods. “Right. So if _she_ thinks it and the mother of my child thinks it…”

“You mean,” Steve’s eyes widen and he looks shiftily at the group of kids gathered in his living room. “Their parents too?”

Danny nods again. “Probably.”

“Crap.” Steve frowns, startled when the plastic fork in his hand snaps in two from him holding it so tightly. “I don’t suppose we can just bring ‘Uke in and say, ‘So, this is our dragon and we aren’t a couple. Enjoy the pizza,’ can we?” he asks hopefully. 

“Yeah, that’s only going to make it worse,” Danny laughs. “But nice try.” He rounds the table and squeezes Steve’s shoulder in a sign of solidarity. “We’ll work it out, okay?”

“Not that I care,” Steve assures him. “Whatever people want to think is their business.”

“You just don’t like being made an assumption of,” Danny finishes. “I get it, believe me.”

“You do?”

“Of course,” Danny steps back and waves a hand up and down his body. “You think growing up and then stopping at 5’4” was easy?” He shakes his head. “Until I filled out, people took one look at me and thought ‘pipsqueak’.”

“I can’t think of any word that describes you less,” Steve scoffs. 

“Yeah, well, you haven’t seen my Mom’s albums. High school was a bitch, Babe.”

“Oh there are photos?” Steve asks gleefully. 

“Not that you’ll ever see.”

“Your mother loves me,” Steve grins, standing as the oven timer beeps loudly, the potatoes ready to be turned down to a gentle warming. “And besides, I have a secret weapon I can use to get them.”

“Oh really? What would that be?”

“Grace,” he ducks around the doorframe, just avoiding the plastic cup that Danny throws at his head.

* * * 

Steve and Danny decide to introduce ‘Uke to everyone but then take him outside since the rain has finally stopped. They don’t want him to feel overwhelmed. The very last thing they need to have happen is for him to freak out and scare someone. 

They go about it in much the same way as before, this time Danny staying with the parents while Steve fetches ‘Uke from around the side where they had briefly chained him out of sight. After a few moments of shocked silence, the questions start and the two of them go through the same story they had with Rachel. Danny thought it weird, and just a little creepy, when Rachel didn’t flip out on meeting ‘Uke. He is rendered speechless when she joins in the introduction, adding her assurances and confidence in Steve and Danny as both dragon carers and human child carers alike. He quickly regains the ability to talk when Steve starts retelling the leather apron portion of the story. The need to preserve his dignity overpowers his shock.

After the questions die down and Danny takes ‘Uke outside, the group seems to naturally divide in two much like at a normal BBQ. Normal being the type without a dragon. The women are inside continuing to talk with Rachel and Steve while the men all followed Danny. Now, they’re standing around in the yard, watching ‘Uke jump after a dragonfly. 

“And you say he can make fire?” Riley’s dad asks from where he’s seated on the step up into the shed. “Aren’t you worried about him burning the house down?”

“Do you watch the news?” Danny laughs. “I’m more worried about Steve burning the house down than ‘Uke.” 

“So he doesn’t accidentally shoot it at things?” Bill sounds disappointed.

“Not since he learnt to control it. At first, if he sneezed, tiny flames came flying out. He scorched so many holes in the rug the first week that we just rolled them all up until he grew out of it.” Danny swears he can still smell the stench of singed carpet. 

None of them seem overly concerned about the dragon, once Steve said that they were training him and had made sure he didn’t have any diseases. Danny isn’t sure if it is this information, the helpful words from Rachel or the knowledge that between a cop and SEAL, there are probably weapons secured away all around the house. So really, it seems to have gone well with the dads and Danny thinks he’s pretty lucky. He just hopes that the moms aren’t giving Steve a hard time inside.

“So, Grace’s father lives here now?” Sara, Amy’s mom asks casually.

Steve nods. “He was here so much already, helping to take care of ‘Uke. It made sense.” He’s sticking with the bare facts. This woman does not need to know about his doubts along the way or the growing sense of a family unit that is building, no matter how odd the unit’s makeup is. That’s nobody’s business but his. 

“It’s very generous of you, Steve,” she runs her hand down his arm, not at all subtle about her intentions. “Taking on a teenage girl out of the blue like that must have come with a few surprises.”

Steve gently removes his arm from her grip. He doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, he gets the feeling that Amy’s mom has been pretty lonely since her husband left her for the mainland and a mistress he had met online. She’s perfectly nice but he’s not attracted to her and decides that he should set things straight from the beginning to avoid any confusion later.

“Grace has been part of my life for four years,” he says as politely as he can. “I doubt there’s anything she could do that is worse than my SEAL days.” 

He looks around for an out and through the doors, sees Danny gesturing animatedly. It feels weird to not be out there by his partner’s side. So far, they’ve tackled this dragon thing entirely together. Even in the early days when they argued about it, it was still in the same room. To be separated now seems wrong. 

“Please excuse me,” Steve smiles at Sara and the other women, avoiding Rachel’s eye as she snickers into her hand, obviously not intending to come to Steve’s rescue. So much for family solidarity. “I need to check up on my partner and make sure he isn’t exaggerating about me again.” 

“Steve,” Sara grabs hold of his hand as he passes and presses a folded piece of paper into his palm. “If this gets too much and you need to get away for an evening, if you want to get a drink or something, call me. Okay?”

Steve nods curtly. “I don’t really have much spare time. If you’ll excuse me, I really must go out,” he indicates the group outside and makes his escape. He takes a second to pause on the lanai and compose himself. He’s dispatched with Taliban who were less determined than that woman and he has to remind himself again that she’s probably just lonely. He remembers what that’s like, the time before Five-0.

“Having fun?” Danny grins as Steve approaches, still looking a little shell-shocked and shoes squelching in the waterlogged lawn.

“They’re relentless,” he exclaims. 

“Oh buddy,” one of the dads, Steve can’t remember his name, laughs. “You lasted longer in there than any of us thought you would.”

Steve wonders how he got the short straw in this thing. Were the others aware this would happen and made their escape accordingly? “Are they always like that?”

“Nah,” Danny pats him on the cheek. “It’s just because you’re pretty.”

“And single,” Bill adds.

“And an officer.”

Steve scowls. “Well next time you want to throw someone to the wolves, send Danny. He’s pretty, single and an officer too.” 

The group laugh at the idea, Danny protesting being called pretty, Steve throwing back that anyone who spends that much time on their hair has no right to grouse about being described like that. He starts to relax, not because he’s escaped the clutches of the women who seem more interested in him than the fact that he has a dragon but because he’s back by Danny’s side. No matter what people want to assume about the two of them, he knows they’re going to continue tackling this dragon thing head on. And together.

* * *   
“So, it went well,” Danny says as he dumps the last bag of paper plates into the garbage bin. They walk back through the laundry and into the house, Steve locking the door behind him. 

“Yeah,” he sighs. “So I guess tomorrow we go and see the Governor.”

“It will be fine,” Danny assures him. “Five-0 hasn’t done anything to piss him off for weeks and honestly, this is way less bad than the time you thought the suspect was on a bus that turned out to be full of retirees from Ohio.”

Steve grins. “They did have a memorable Hawaiian vacation.”

“Two of them went to the hospital with panic attacks,” Danny throws his hands up in the air and shakes his head. “I don’t know why I bother.”

“Yeah you do,” Steve winks. “Night, ‘Uke,” he rubs the animal on the head and it coos back at him before walking into Danny’s room and flopping on the floor beside his bed, its back almost the same height as the mattress. 

“Night, Danno,” he grins.

“Try to pet my hair and I cut your hand off.”

Steve laughs, turning off the lights as he walks through the house and up the stairs. It’s been a good day. Unexpected but good and he just hopes that the meeting tomorrow goes as well. 

“Hey, Steve?” Danny calls out through the darkness. He knows the other man’s door will be open, Steve having taken to leaving it ajar in case Grace called out in the night or ‘Uke couldn’t rouse Danny for a trip ‘outside’.

“Yeah?” he answers.

“You ever call me pretty again and I’m giving your phone number to all the single moms at Grace’s school. Got it?”

Steve laughs. “Go to sleep, Danno.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. And so endeth the longest Saturday ever. Girl scouts, telling Rachel, telling the parents. I'm tired just thinking about it. Tomorrow, a new day :)


	26. Chapter 26

“Danny, come out here a minute,” Steve taps on the glass of the detective’s office walls as he passes, getting his attention. Rather than sit around the house waiting for their appointment with the Governor, Steve and Danny decide to head into work, even though it is Sunday, and catch up on some administrative stuff. When they let Chin and Kono know what was happening, the cousins decide to join them in a show of support. Danny saves the files he’s working on and follows his partner out to the tech table. 

“We going to the Residence already?” he asks, confused when Chin opens Steve’s email and a bunch of pictures open on the flat screen. 

“No, a lead. HPD just emailed over this,” Steve swipes up a photo with a mismatched collection of jewelry. “Owner of a second hand shop called in after a guy tried to sell him all this earlier this morning. Asian, squirrely. Made him suspicious.” 

“Rings and bracelets mostly,” Danny observes. “Pretty old, could be from an estate sale.”

“Except this one,” Kono zooms in. “It’s too modern in its setting and matches the description of one of the pieces from the robberies last week.”

“Great, let’s get a sketch artist to the shop and have him sit down with the owner.”

“Oh,” Steve shakes his head. “That won’t be necessary. The owner wears gloves to handle the jewelry he has for sale. He was rearranging a display when the guy came in so he just left them on when he inspected what he had.”

“HPD able to get a print?” Danny asks hopefully. The vigilant owner could have just given them the break they need to stop this case going ice cold.

“Yup. Duke’s sending the address to our phones,” Steve closes down the screens. “Chin, Kono, go over the owner’s statement and follow up with him if there’s anything else you want to ask him. Danny and I’ll go pick up the suspect.”

“Uh, Steve,” Danny holds an arm out and stops him from stalking off in mission mode. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Steve frowns. “No.”

“I am not riding all the way around the island in a car that stinks like rotten tuna.”

“Oh,” Steve winces. “Yeah it’s pretty ripe,” he agrees. 

“And why would that be, huh?” 

Steve mumbles something unintelligible, scratching at the back of his neck.

“Say what?” Kono frowns. 

“There was a sale at Foodworks, the fish was going to expire today” Steve explains. “And ‘Uke eats a lot so it wouldn’t need to last. Seemed a shame to let that ahi go to waste.”

“Only _someone_ left it on the back seat of my car when they got home Friday night and now the Camaro smells like Pike Place in the middle of summer,” Danny finishes. 

“I got distracted,” Steve mumbles. 

“You were met at the gate by your pet and let his dragon eyes convince you to go for a swim! You didn’t even go in the house first, you just left a trail of outerwear from the garage to the sand.” Danny throws his hands up. “Come on, we’re going home to get your car and I’m dropping mine off to be detailed.”

“That sounds fair,” Chin grins. 

“Bring your wallet,” Danny adds, glaring at his partner. “You’re paying for it.”

“I’ve been _paying for it_ since the day I met you,” Steve grumbles, walking towards the doors, Danny following after him.

Chin and Kono watch them leave. 

“Their first lover’s tiff?” she asks cheekily.

“Hardly,” Chin snorts.

* * *   
“Ready?” Steve asks when they’re outside the door of the suspect’s house, a one level bungalow in a not entirely bad neighborhood. 

Danny tightens the straps on his vest and checks his gun. “Yup. Gimme twenty seconds to get around back and then we’ll go in.” He disappears up the side of the house.

Steve checks through the comm and at Danny’s okay, announces their presence. “Marc Chen, this is Five-0. Open up.” Steve waits a second or two, hears a crash from within and kicks the door open. He clears the front rooms one by one, checking behind the couch and a large, ornate wooden screen. He trusts that Danny is doing the same from the back of the house forwards. 

They meet a minute later in the hallway. “No sign of him,” Danny shrugs. “I guess we put out a BOLO.”

“No, I heard a noise before we breached,” Steve tilts his head, listening.

“What sort of a noise?”

“Like a crash.”

“Maybe he has a cat.”

“I didn’t see a cat? Did you see a cat?” Steve looks about shiftily. 

“No I did not see a cat,” Danny rolls his eyes. “But I wasn’t exactly looking for pets on account of they aren’t usually the occupants that jump out at you from behind a closet door and try and shoot you in the head.”

“Yeah well,” Steve pouts. “I know I heard a noise.”

“Okay, I believe you, Steve,” Danny holsters his gun and heads back towards the laundry room he just cleared. “Look in there for a litter box or something, I’ll check the kitchen for cat food.”

Steve frowns. “It doesn’t actually matter if he does have one or not.”

“Oh yes it does my friend,” Danny calls through the doorway. “Because you will doubt that I believe you and you won’t let it go until we… wait what was that?” 

They’re instantly on alert again, Steve crowds up behind Danny and they peer out the small, high window in the laundry room. Their suspect is standing in the middle of his high-fenced back yard with his hands held above his head. 

“What the hell?” Steve storms out. “Fucker must have gone out a window.”

“Well at least his hands are already where we can see them.”

“Marc Chen, this is Five-0 we’re coming out. Keep your hands up.” Steve trains his handgun on the suspect and advances through the kitchen.

“I ain’t fucking moving, cop!” Chen shouts back. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just keep this thing away from me.”

Danny makes ‘he’s crazy’ signs next to his head and the partners nod at each other, Danny pulling back the kitchen door and Steve darting through and out onto the porch where he stops suddenly, Danny running hard into his back. 

“Hey, watch it you giant oaf,” he rubs his nose where it hit the back of Steve’s vest. “Don’t tell me he made a run for it.”

“Uh, no.” Steve swallows. “I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere.”

“Well then what are we waiting for,” Danny steps around his partner and starts to descend the back stairs but freezes when he gets to the bottom. “Oh.”

“What the hell kind of cops are you?” Chen asks, his voice quivering and he looks like staying upright is a battle. 

“Oh no,” Danny groans. “Please, Steven, please tell me that I am hallucinating right now.”

“Sorry, Danno.”

“ _Please_ tell me that is not our dragon standing in the middle of this back yard.”

“He must have hidden in the truck bed.”

“Oh he must, must he?” Danny asks, crossing the lawn and holding out his hand to ‘Uke. The dragon seems oblivious to the trouble he’s just caused and is sitting happily, one eye on Chen and the other on Steve and Danny. He reaches out his nose and pushes gently against Danny’s hand. 

“Sorry, buddy,” he glares at the animal. “No marshmallows for you on account of _you’re not supposed to be here_.”

“Hey, don’t yell at him!” Steve storms down the stairs, cuffing the grateful suspect before standing next to ‘Uke. “He probably got lonely at the house.”

“Oh sure, defend the reptilian delinquent,” Danny huffs. “What the hell are we going to do now, huh?”

“Take him home and go see the Governor like we planned,” Steve says. “Don’t worry it will be fine,” he assures his partner in a complete reversal of their roles the night before. 

Danny sighs. “Fine. ‘Uke, at ease. Go to the car,” he points towards the front of the house and waits for the animal to walk away. 

‘Uke tilts his head and looks at the house then back to Danny before wiggling a little and stretching his long wings out to the side, almost knocking Steve over with the unexpected movement. 

“Go!” Danny says more firmly and this time, ‘Uke obeys instantly. With a jump and a few short flaps, he takes off and over the house, landing with a loud thud in what they assume is the silverado’s bed.

“Huh,” Danny watches him go. “That’s new. Although if I am honest, not entirely unexpected. You,” he points at Steve, “Are going to have to help me make a list of reasons why it is not okay for Grace to ride him to school.”

 

“Great,” Steve sighs. “This is just what we need.” He turns to Chen and starts to read him his rights. “You have the right to remain silent, and believe me for now, we’d really appreciate it if you did.”

“Trust me, brah,” the still shaking man says back, “Who the hell’d believe me anyway if I tried to tell them that Five-0 went and got themselves a dragon that can fucking _fly_.”

* * *   
“Steve, Danny,” the Governor reaches across his desk to shake their hands before settling back in his leather chair. 

“Thanks for seeing us on such short notice, Governor,” Steve follows suit and seats himself, waiting for Danny to do the same. When he just stands there looking twitchy, Steve clears his throat and nods pointedly at the empty chair next to him.

“Oh, right,” Danny sits.

“I must admit,” Denning regards the two of them, “I am curious as to why you’re here. Usually it’s like pulling teeth to get one of you to come down and yet, here you both are. Of your own free will at that.”

“Well,” Steve clears his throat again, this time because it’s suddenly become very tight. “Something has,” he searches for the right word, “Occurred which I…”

This time it’s Danny who coughs.

“Which _we_ thought you needed to know about.” Steve finishes. 

“I see.”

“It sort of concerns the taskforce.”

“But not really,” Danny adds. 

“And this occurrence would be what exactly?” Denning raises an eyebrow at the partners seated before him, already having a fair idea what they’re about to say. It’s hardly a surprise considering the change of address paperwork the State processed for Detective Williams last month.

“First,” Steve stalls, “Please allow me to say that it has been ten weeks since…”

“The _occurrence_ ,” Denning prompts.

“Right. And so far, it has not impacted on the running of the taskforce.”

“So Officers Kelly and Kalakaua are aware of the new circumstances?”

“Yes, Sir,” Danny nods. “We informed them a couple of weeks ago.”

“And they believe that the two of you are still able to operate effectively in the field?”

Steve frowns. “Yes?” He can’t see why it would make any difference at all. 

“Well if your closest colleagues have no problem, then neither can I. Let me offer my heartfelt congratulations to the two of you,” The Governor stands and reaches across the table to shake their hands again. 

“Uh, we haven’t told you anything yet,” Steve reminds him.

“No need, no need,” Denning sits again, chuckling. “My wife asked me about the two of you the day she saw you on the news, after you rescued that tourist from the strung out mobster.”

“She did?” Steve squints. 

“You burnt your shirt,” Danny remembers, “And you pulled it off in front of a dozen news cameras and I had all that smoke in my eyes and it might have looked like I was staring at your abs and Steve?”

 

“Yeah?”

“It’s happening again.”

“What?”

“You know, with the thing we have to say but everyone thinks it’s the _other_ thing. The thing that it’s not.”

“Oh,” realization dawns on Steve’s face and he grins at Danny. “Well then, this time, we do it my way, okay?”

Danny waves a hand dismissively. “Sure. Can’t be any worse. G’head.”

Steve looks at the Governor, who is trying not to chuckle to himself by taking a sip from his water glass, and says, “We are not a couple.”

“Oh?”

“And,” he continues. “We have a pet dragon.”


	27. Chapter 27

“I’m sorry, you what?”

“We have a dragon,” Steve repeats. 

The Governor frowns. “I’m afraid I’m not following you, Steve.” He takes another, cautious sip of his water. 

“A dragon,” Danny says. “Scales, wings, makes fire. Although this one doesn’t terrorize poor villagers or steal livestock.”

“And you _have_ one,” Denning says slowly. “Okay then, show it to me.”

“Well he’s not here of course,” Danny rolls his eyes. This really isn’t going according to plan. “He’s back at the house. I hope.”

“So, you’re telling me that you have a dragon at your house. Which you have had for,” he turns to Steve, “How long did you say?”

“Ten weeks.”

“For ten weeks, and you’ve come here today to, what, get my permission to keep it?”

Steve nods. “That about sums it up, Sir.”

The Governor looks at him, then Danny and then Steve again. They seem serious enough but there’s just no way. “Okay, who put you up to this?” 

Steve sighs. Obviously they’re going to have to show Denning some solid proof of ‘Uke’s existence before they can get to the part where he yells and then makes them fill in paperwork. 

“Here,” he says, rocking sideways and taking his cell phone out of his left hip pocket. He unlocks it then flicks through until he gets to the right screen. “This is ‘Uke.” He holds it up so the Governor can see the screen, which clearly shows a photo of a small black reptile curled up asleep on Danny’s chest.

“I _knew_ you had photos of that,” Danny scowls. 

“You honestly think that I believe that is real? I am sure Officer Kelly could create an image like that in a few minutes.”

“You think we…” Danny starts defensively and then changes his mind. He takes a breath to calm himself before continuing. “Why would we lie about this?”

“Here,” Steve holds his phone up again before Denning can answer. He flicks across several times, showing photo after photo. ‘Uke with Grace on the beach, ‘Uke with Grace on the stairs, ‘Uke with an empty marshmallow packet stuck on his foot. In each photo he grows larger until the most recent picture, from yesterday, which shows ‘Uke with all the Aloha Girls by his side and an empty pizza box on his head. He looks thoroughly confused about how it got there despite having just scarfed half a pie.

“I…” the Governor frowns. “That’s a…”

“Dragon,” Danny supplies as Steve pockets his phone. 

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Denning admits. “You need to tell me everything. Start from the beginning.”

* * * 

“Danny,” Kono comes out of her office when she sees her friend return. “How’d it go?”

“Oh not so good,” Danny sighs, passing her and heading for the break room. “I need coffee. You want one?”

“Sure,” she follows him, pausing at the doorway to watch. Danny slams the cups down on the bench before refilling the reservoir on the machine. 

She does think it’s kind of a crime that they have to resort to the commercialism of a pod machine when they live in a state with the best coffee in the world. It was only after they left the dripolator on when they went after a lead and returned three days later to a melted mess and a nasty note from the janitor, that it was decided by all that the pod system was the safer option. A refillable insert and fresh ground kona to put in it seemed like a reasonable compromise for all. 

Kono waits until Danny swallows the first, large gulp out of his NJPD mug before venturing in to get her own. 

“Thanks,” she smiles, sipping slowly. She still hasn’t worked out how Danny can drink without burning his mouth. “Is Steve still over there?”

“Yeah,” Danny decides that despite having just spent the last two hours sitting and being grilled, he’d rather have this conversation in the nice, comfortable chairs in his office. “Come on,” he leads the way, putting his cup in its usual spot on his desk before slumping down. 

Kono follows, taking the other leather chair and folding her legs up under her. “So, what happened?”

“Well, we told him about ‘Uke.” Danny decides she doesn’t need to know that the Governor also thought that he and Steve were there to announce some kind of lifelong commitment or something. The rookie doesn’t need any more ammunition against them. “At first he didn’t believe us, accused us of playing a prank or something. So Steve showed him photo after photo of ‘Uke and Grace from his phone. I didn’t even know he had taken them,” he adds somewhat wistfully. 

“So he believed you?”

Danny nods. “Yeah. But…”

“He’s not happy.”

“Not at all,” Danny leans his elbows on his desk and pillows his head in his arms, sighing deeply. 

Kono leaves her cup by Danny’s pen holder and rounds the desk, standing beside him, rubbing his back. “Hey, it’ll be okay.” 

After a minute or so, Danny lifts his head, patting Kono’s hand in thanks. “Go, sit,” he nods at her mug, “Drink before it gets cold.”

Kono laughs. It’s probably just bearably cooled by now. 

“Sorry about that.”

“No problem, brah,” Kono takes a sip. Yup, just the right temperature. “You’ve had a lot on your plate. Honestly, I’m surprised you made it this long.”

“And I thought I was the tough one,” Danny smiles ruefully. “Steve had his freak out right before we had Chin’s vet friend over.”

“And you thought you had to be strong.”

“Maybe?” the detective shrugs. “I guess I just forced myself not to worry about things I can’t change.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Some would even say that’s healthy.”

“Yeah, well there’s a difference between not worrying and being in denial,” he reminds her, taking the last, long sip from his cup. 

 

“So what did Denning say?” she presses. She’s grown fond of the scaly new member of their ohana in the two weeks she’s known about him. 

“At first, not much,” Danny admits. “But when it sank in, he started talking about insurance and legal and environment and he was pretty angry that we hadn’t gone to him right away. It took Steve assuring him that there was nothing he could bring up that we hadn’t already considered to convince him that we were taking this seriously.”

“Oh, Danny.”

“Steve’s still over there, going over things with the State’s lead counsel. He said I should come back and deal with interrogating Chen and then just meet him back at the house.”

“Uh, about that,” Kono grins.

“You already did it?”

She shrugs. “We got bored waiting.”

“And?”

“Wrong place wrong time. Mostly.”

“So he’s innocent?”

“Oh hell no, he’s totally a petty thief, wanted by HPD on a string of B&E on the West side of the island. But he’s not one of our guys.”

“I’m confused.”

“He found the ring, on the footpath outside his house. Best we can work out, the real robbers knew what he did for… a living… and dropped it there so he’d find it.”

Danny’s eyebrows quirk. “They set him up?”

“Yup.”

“Sneaky bastards.” he shakes his head. “I’m really going to enjoy catching these guys.” 

“Me too.” Kono stands up and finishes her coffee. “Chin took Chen to booking so we can get out of here if you want. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Oh. My car’s at the shop.” Danny frowns. “And Steve has his keys. How’d he think I was gonna go home?”

Kono shrugs. “Neither of you are thinking straight right now,” she says gently. “Come on, I’ll take you.”

“Nah,” Danny stands also, pocketing his phone and house keys which he’d at least had the sense to take off the Camaro’s ring before leaving it at the detailer. “I think I’ll go for a walk,” he says as he clips his badge on his belt and holsters his weapon. “Thanks though.”

“No problem,” Kono draws her friend into a hug and squeezes him tight before letting go. “You have my number if you change your mind.”

Danny nods. “Thanks. How ‘bout I let you walk me out instead?” 

 

* * * 

Two hours later, Steve closes the Governor’s office door behind him, the heavy wooden door thunking against the frame. He runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath, trying to clear his head after spending half the day locked in a room with a lawyer and insurance underwriter. He starts the walk back through the foyer, distracted by the many thoughts he has swirling.

“Hey,” a voice says softly. 

Steve turns and sees his partner sitting on one of the couches in the waiting area, the floor lamp behind him making his hair glow softly in silhouette. 

“Hey,” Steve answers, doubling back to sink down next to Danny, their shoulders touching despite the length of the couch. “What’re you doing here?”

“Didn’t feel like going home,” Danny shrugs. “What’d he say?”

“A whole lot and not much. He said he’ll call us by the end of the week when Legal finishes going through everything.”

“Oh.” Danny swallows. “I don’t know what I was expecting but…” he can’t finish the thought, the very idea that at this point, after even Rachel supported them, it looks like the state looks will take ‘Uke from them.

“Yeah.” Steve clenches and unclenches his fists before resting his warm hand on Danny’s leg and. “Nothing we can do for now, I suppose.”

“Guess not,” Danny pats Steve’s hand before taking hold of it and standing, Steve using it to pull himself back up off the couch. “Come on, SuperSEAL,” he says softly. “Let’s go home.”

It’s not until they reach the car and Steve tries to get the keys from his pocket that he realizes, after Danny helped him up, neither of them thought to let the other’s hand go.


	28. Chapter 28

Mondays are not usually a favorite day at the best of times, but with the shadow of ‘Uke’s fate hanging over them, Steve and Danny get ready for work in silence. They move around each other in the kitchen, each grabbing what they want, passing things back and forth without needing to ask. When they’re done, Steve sits at the island while Danny takes his mug back into his room to tame his hair and whatever the hell else it is he does to get ready. 

‘Uke is stalking about in the bushes by the laundry, Steve keeping an eye on him through the windows. They’d debated last night where the dragon should spend the next few days and came to the mutual decision that inside will be best unless one or both of them are home. Until they hear from Denning, they can continue to care for ‘Uke as they have been so long as he is either in the house or secured in the yard when they are out.

When he’s finished eating, Steve calls out that he’s going to bring ‘Uke in and by the time he’s got the back doors locked and refilled the dragon’s water bowl in the kitchen, Danny is ready. 

“I’ll drop you off at the detailer to get your car and meet you at the palace,” Steve says as they walk out the front door and over to his truck.

“Yup,” Danny answers, obviously distracted. 

“And then this afternoon we can leave half an hour early and bring my car back here so we only need to take one to Grace’s troop meeting.”

“Sounds good,” he mumbles, climbing up into the cab when Steve unlocks the doors. 

Steve buckles himself in, starts the car and scowls. “And then I thought to myself, why can’t I show the girls how to put the pin back in a grenade. We live on an island where every branch of the military has a base so it’s not totally impossible that they’ll need that skill one day.” 

“Whatever you think will work.” Danny sighs, looking out the window as they pull onto the highway and head into town. “Wait, _what_?”

“You’ve hardly said ten words all morning.”

“So?”

“So,” Steve overtakes a school bus that’s struggling up a hill, “It’s starting to creep me out.”

“Oh.” Danny sighs loudly and returns to watching the passing scenery, clumps of houses lining the freeway and nestling back into the foothills of the mountain range. “Just thinking, I guess.”

“You want to talk about it?” Steve offers, genuinely concerned that his partner has clammed up. Danny usually works out a difficulty by talking his way through it, like stream of consciousness problem solving. It doesn’t matter if it’s the team gathered around the computer table shooting ideas back and forth or a quiet confiding of custody issues, it’s how he operates. 

“I just hate waiting.”

Steve nods, mostly to himself. “I hate how powerless I feel,” he admits. “That it’s completely out of my hands and that all the training, all the years work I’ve done, none of that helps with this.”

“Well, it can’t _hurt_ ,” Danny looks over at his partner for the first time. 

“What do you mean?”

“They’re more likely to let a Navy SEAL and a cop keep a dragon than, say, the clerk at a copy shop.” Danny’s pleased when he sees Steve fighting off a tiny smile. He’s done pretending to be the ‘strong’ one in this but that doesn’t stop him trying to ease the tension a little. 

“Perhaps.”

“I’m just wondering when we should tell Grace, that’s all.”

Steve grips the steering wheel tighter. “Oh.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s not really up to me, Danny,” the SEAL shrugs. “Whatever you think is best, I’ll go along with it, okay?”

“No.”

“What?”

“No that’s not okay. I ask your opinion because I want to know what you think, you giant lunkhead,” Danny rolls his eyes in frustration. “Sometimes I wonder if you did one too many HALO jumps and the oxygen deprivation has made your brain cells shrink just a little too much.”

“It’s perfectly safe to… Wait, did you just call me a _lunkhead_?” 

“If the stupidity fits, Babe,” Danny winks. “But seriously. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, man,” Steve exhales slowly, buying time while he thinks. “I wouldn’t tell her anything until we know what’s going to happen. It isn’t lying,” he hurries to add because he knows how Danny feels about keeping his daughter in the dark, “But there’s no reason to get her worried until we have something definite to tell her.”

Danny breaks out into the first genuine smile of the morning. “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” he nods. “So for now, it’s things as usual at the house.”

“Agreed.”

“Great. Oh, do you think we can get my car on the way in?” Danny asks a couple of miles before the exit they need to take to get to the shop. “We can always drop one of them, I assume yours because when do you ever pass up the chance to drive my Camaro, off before we go to the troop meeting.”

Steve smiles to himself, shaking his head as he ponders how the two of them, so very different in MO and training, can be so very similar most of the time. 

“Sure thing, Danno.”

* * * 

“Danno!” Grace runs to meet Steve and Danny at the door of the community hall. Steve resists the urge to clear the room first, still not quite believing that the girls’ parents didn’t come after them with pitchforks and torches after finding out about ‘Uke. 

 

Grace throws her arms around her father and holds him tightly, unashamed of how much she needs the hug despite her friends being in the room. “You came,” she mumbles into his shirt.

Danny frowns. “Of course we did, Monkey.”

Grace looks up, taking in her dad’s face as well as Steve’s. “I wasn’t sure if you would be able to, now that people know.”

 

“Hey,” Steve crouches down and tugs on her ponytail, mustering up a smile for the sake of cheering up his favourite girl. “It would take much more than one dragon to keep Danno from you. At least a herd of wild unicorns with mermaids riding on their backs,” he says seriously. 

“Yeah, or just one she-devil woman,” Danny mutters, pressing his hand over Grace’s ear, the other into his chest as he still hugs her. 

“You shouldn’t talk about Mommy like that,” Grace admonishes, a little too loud since her head is covered. “She helped you to tell everyone about ‘Uke.”

Danny moves his hands. “There is that,” he agrees. “I guess your mom was right, we have all come a long way. I mean, look at this guy,” he nods his head at Steve, “Talking to minors without scaring them so much they need therapy.”

“I always liked Steve, Daddy.”

“Yeah, well. You also like pineapple on your pizza now.”

“So?”

“So, you’re easily corrupted is what I’m saying,” Danny squeezes her tight one last time before letting her go and crouching down beside Steve, one knee up and one down on account of his injury. “But Grace?”

“Yeah?”

“Steve and me were always only temporary leaders. Madeline will come back, you knew that, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Grace sighs. “I like seeing you lots, that’s all.”

“Well you see me lots anyway, since your mom lets you come over more. And there’s baseball and surfing and all the other things you love doing.”

“I guess.”

Danny swallows hard and Steve sees the way his mouth is drawn and his jaw tense. “What Danno means,” he says gently, “Is that no matter what happens with us leading your troop, or with ‘Uke, you’ll still be able to see your dad the same, okay?”

Grace nods. “Okay. Promise me, that you will call me as soon as the Governor says we are allowed to keep him, okay?”

The two men exchange a look over her head and Steve raises a questioning eyebrow at his partner. Danny just shrugs. 

“Mommy said that now that people know, you’ll have to tell your boss and probably go on TV and make an announcement or maybe be in the paper again and that I had to promise not to be mad at you, no matter what the Governor says.” Grace sniffles when she’s done and Danny can see she’s going to cry if this conversation doesn’t end immediately. 

All Danny can do is hug her again and murmur into her hair that they’ll do everything they can to keep their whole ohana together, scaly members included.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because not everyone is open minded or accepting about things. And it's not the dragon that bothers them. 
> 
> There is some offensive, language in this chapter. 
> 
> Don't worry, it will all work out. Eventually...

Steve goes over to the other girls to give Danny and Grace some privacy and is met with a chorus of questions entirely asking after ‘Uke and did he have a good weekend and does he like his new house. Despite everything, Steve laughs and wonders if it’s possible that the dragon’s ability to get under people’s skin comes from Danny. 

“Hey,” Grace comes back to her friends, dragging her father along behind her, “Danno has a surprise for us!”

Steve tilts his head. “He does?”

Danny nods. “Yeah. We had planned to tell you on Saturday with your parents but we ran out of time.”

“Oh, right,” Steve grins. After the shock of ‘Uke had dulled and the questions had died down, Steve and Danny, together with Angela, had a chance to speak with all the parents, including Lucy’s mom. She told them that when she described the day, Lucy had seemed excited by the idea of trying another campout and that the control she felt by being so involved in the planning was really helping her overcome her fear. They decided it would be okay to go ahead with making the event official.

The men sit with the girls, each of their little faces looking up expectantly. “The games we had on Saturday were not just random fun,” Danny begins. 

“You’re all more than half way to completing a junior camper badge,” Steve says, covering his ears when the girls squeal. 

“Does this mean we’re going on a campout for real?” Riley asks above the hubbub.

Danny nods. “Yup. Just as soon as we plan it.”

“And the ringing in my ears stops,” Steve jokes as the troop calms down again. “Caitlyn, Amy, go and get the maps from the storage room.” 

While they’re gone, the others drag tables and chairs over and Danny lays out their notepads and park brochures from the weekend. 

Steve checks the number of chairs and looks around the room. “Is Lisa coming today?” he asks Suzy, the only other girl in the troop who goes to the same school as Lisa. 

She shrugs, sitting at one end of the table. “I don’t know. She wasn’t at school today.”

“She probably won’t,” Lucy takes the chair next to Suzy. “She texted me at lunch. Her dad came home on leave last night.”

“He probably wants all the time he can get with his family before he has to report back,” Steve nods, knowing it’s what he’d do. “We won’t be done today so she can help out next week.”

Amy and Caitlyn come back with the maps and they spread these out with the other papers, the girls naturally splitting into pairs and Danny and Steve working with them to answer questions or make suggestions. 

Half an hour later, Steve is about to suggest they take a break to share their thoughts so far when the door to the community hall swings open and hits the wall hard. The girls jump in their seats, startled and Steve almost reaches for his gun before he remembers that it’s locked in the truck. 

A troop leader working with a group closer to the doorway moves between her girls and the imposing man standing there, takes a step forward and demands to know who he is. 

“I want to see the unit commander.”

“Manager,” a voice says shakily from behind him.

“Manager,” he repeats, scowling. 

“He isn’t here today,” the leader answers firmly. 

“Well who is in charge then?”

When she looks over her shoulder to Grace’s troop, Steve and Danny step forward. 

“Stay here,” Danny orders the girls and they bunch together on the far side of the table. 

Steve crosses the room in long strides and stops a couple of feet from the man. He uses all his six feet to loom threateningly. “We are in charge here today,” he says, even though each leader is responsible for their own troop. He doesn’t want to play the gender card, and sure doesn’t underestimate any of the female leaders. The mom who leads troop Four has a black belt. But Steve could tell the second the door slammed open that this man is military and volatile. He doesn't even need to look to know that Danny will be standing a step behind and off to the side of him. They have each other’s backs. Always. 

“Is there something we can help you with?” Danny asks in the voice he usually reserves for hostage negotiations. Oh shit he hopes it doesn’t come to that. Even from a few feet away, he doesn’t miss the heavy odor of stale alcohol on the man’s breath and seethes at the thought of him driving here, with his daughter in the car. 

The man’s eyes narrow. “You the Steve and Danny my daughter won’t stop talking about?”

Danny steps closer, almost touching shoulder to shoulder with Steve and, unexpectedly, extends his hand. “I’m Danny Williams,” he says calmly. “My daughter Grace is in the troop, we’re leading while the usual volunteer is away. You must be Lisa’s dad. Look if this is about the drag...”

The man interrupts, refusing Danny’s hand. “So this is what it comes to,” he growls. “A man leaves his family to serve his country and comes back to find two…”

“Daddy, don’t.” Lisa steps out from behind her father and stands next to Danny. “They’re good leaders.”

“Lisa, honey,” Danny says gently without taking his eyes off the threat, “Go say hi to your friends while we talk to your dad outside, okay?”

The girl doesn’t need telling twice, she shoots across the room and huddles with the rest of the troop. 

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” the man sneers. “To get me out there without witnesses.”

“He’s right, Danny,” Steve stands his ground. “Anything he has to say to us, he can say in here.”

Danny shakes his head and leans in. “No, Steve. Outside. Lisa doesn’t need to see this,” he says softly. He gets the feeling the girl will be finding out soon enough the kind of man her father seems to be but she doesn’t need to witness it first hand. 

 

“After you,” Steve growls threateningly. He follows the man out, Danny close behind. He just hopes someone has the presence of mind to call 911. 

Once the door closes behind them, the man turns to Steve. “I don’t know what you think you’re up to,” he points in Steve’s face, mere centimetres from his nose. 

“You probably don’t want to do that,” Danny warns. 

“Shut up,” the man shouts, pointing now at Danny. “What kind of dad are you anyway?” 

“Hey!” Steve clenches his fists at his side, it’s taking every fibre of self control he has not to deck this guy. “Come after me all you want, but do not question his parenting. What the hell is your problem?”

“You!” the man laughs cruelly. “Sticking together. Typical little faggots.”

“What?” Steve’s so enraged that a little bit of saliva flies out of his mouth as he yells. The vein on his head is pulsing and his face is red more than Danny’s ever seen. 

“You heard me,” the man sneers. “I ain’t having no gays taking my kid out into the jungle alone.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Steve reaches into his back pocket and looks at Danny. “You going to help out at all?”

Danny shrugs. “I’m pretty sure this is your field of expertise, Babe,” he’s ready though, to jump in should things get out of hand. 

“Right.” Steve holds up his badge. “Let me properly introduce myself. I’m Steve McGarrett, this is my partner Danny Williams.”

The man’s confidence flags considerably as Steve continues. 

“We head up the Governor’s State TaskForce. Staff Sergeant Higgs, I am placing you under arrest for assaulting an officer of the law and disturbing the peace.” Steve’s also pretty sure that once he’s been booked, drunk and disorderly will be added to the list. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

“Yeah, no.” Higgs stands his ground and keeps his fists firmly on his hips. “Fuck off, fag cop.”

 

“Oh, you really shouldn’t have done that,” Danny watches as Steve punches the guy in the jaw, using his own body weight against him as he falls to roll him onto his stomach and wrench his right arm high across his left shoulder blade. 

“You have the right to remain silent,” Steve growls as he gets the zip cuff into position. “Or we can take this to your C.O and make it an Article 134 if you prefer,” he threatens into his ear.

Higgs bucks under Steve at the suggestion of some gay cop threatening military action and manages to land his shoulder high on Steve’s cheek. 

“You can’t do that,” Higgs spits out angrily. 

Steve tightens the cuffs. “Watch me. Anything you say or do…” he continues reading Higgs his rights as he hauls the marine to his feet and pushes him towards the carpark and out of view of the hall. His daughter definitely doesn’t need to see this. 

“Detective? Commander McGarrett?” One of the leaders who must have been watching through the window to know it was safe to come out, runs down the stairs and across the lawn, coming to a stop beside Danny. 

Higgs’ head whips around at the use of Steve’s title. “Commander?””

“Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy Reserves, actually,” Steve waits for Danny to catch up. 

“Chin and Kono are on the way,” Danny explains, holding up Steve’s phone. “Grace called them and they want to know if they need to bring HPD.”

“Nah, I think Five-0 can handle this one.” Steve shakes his head. “How’d she get into my phone?”

“Some numbskull uses her birthday as the pin,” Danny rolls his eyes. “Really?”

Steve shrugs. “It’s easy to remember.”

“You’re an idiot,” Danny says affectionately. 

Steve grins. “Yeah, but I’m your idiot.”

Higgs struggles against his restraints again. “What the hell kind of cops are you?”

Steve and Danny reply in unison, “The new kind.”

Steve decides to hold Higgs without charge for the time being and refer the matter to his C.O. He explains to Chin and Danny, while Kono goes inside to check on the girls, that the commander is probably in a better position to administer disciplinary action. He adds that he suspects it won’t be the first strike against Higgs’ record. Late thirties is rather old for a Staff Sergeant so there’s something in his service history that has held him back. 

The other men agree and Chin and Kono take Higgs back to the Five-0 offices to make the necessary phone calls. Danny calls Lisa’s mom and offers to bring Lisa home. She’s able to leave work early and just beats them there, taking her daughter into her arms when she starts sobbing. 

“I’m so sorry,” she cries too, pressing her cheek into her daughter’s hair. “He was saying stuff last night. I don’t know what’s happened to him, but now he thinks the most vile, awful….” She takes a shuddering breath. “I had no idea he would do this.”

“It’s not your fault,” Steve assures her. “And you,” he squats in front of Lisa and the girl turns her tearstained face to her leader. “I am so proud of you for trying to stand up for me and Danny today. That can’t have been easy for you.”

Lisa smiles weakly and holds her mom tighter. “I like you being my leader,” she shrugs like it’s the simplest thing in the world. “And my dad is wrong.”

Steve brushes the hair out of her eyes and smiles back. “That he is, sweetie,” he sighs. “You take good care of your mom tonight, okay?”

Lisa nods and Steve stands up again, brushing the dirt off his knees. “If there’s anything you need, call okay? You have Danny’s number.”

The woman nods. “Thank you, Steve.”

“I’m sorry I had to…” 

“Please,” she stops him with a hand on his forearm. “It’s not the first time,” she confides. “I’m just grateful he attacked someone who only arrested him. What if it had been someone who fought back?”

Steve hadn’t considered that side of things. “We’ll get it straightened out.”

He heads back to the Camaro and they wait until Lisa and her mom are safely inside. 

“Okay,” he turns to Danny and Grace who are waiting for him by the car. “Let’s go home.”


	30. Chapter 30

When they get back to the house, Grace bounds from the car the second Danny brings the seat forward, racing to the door and waiting impatiently for Steve to come and unlock it. 

“Hold your horses, young lady,” Danny tuts. “Schoolbag? Uniform?” He points at the trunk and resists the urge to tap his foot when Grace sighs and trudges back to the car

When they eventually do make it in the door, ‘Uke is waiting, curled up at the bottom of the stairs with his chin resting on the third tread. It’s only been a couple of hours since Steve and Danny came back to do the car swap, and let ‘Uke out for a quick run while they were there, but as soon as the animal sees Grace, he’s up and following her to the back doors.

As the sun starts to set, Danny suggests Grace starts her homework before dinner so she sets up on the lanai so she can keep watching her scaly friend while he stalks about the yard. Danny leaves her to it, knowing that his daughter hates it when an adult hovers while she tries to do her assignments. She much prefers to do it herself then have someone check when she’s done. If she gets stuck on something, then she’ll ask for help. 

Danny, then, is surprised when he returns half an hour later to find that Grace has written half a sentence in her grammar book and not even started her sums. 

“Grace?” he frowns. “Are you having trouble?”

She doesn’t answer. 

“Grace?”

“Huh?” she startles, jumping a little in her seat. 

Danny pulls out the seat at the end of the table and sits, sliding a pencil into Grace’s math book to mark the page before closing the cover. “Do you feel okay, Monkey?” he asks, concerned. “You usually love doing math. That you inherited from your mother, I definitely had no part in that at all.”

The long-running family joke doesn’t even get her to crack a smile. Okay, now Danny’s not just concerned. He’s downright worried. 

“If you don’t feel well, you can go lie down until dinner,” he suggests. “I can write Mrs Taylor a note to say you felt sick and didn’t get your work done. You can make it up tomorrow.”

Grace shakes her head. “I’m fine,” she opens the book again. “There isn’t much to do tonight, I’d rather just finish.”

“Okay then,” Danny stands, kissing her on the head as he gets up and puts the chair back in lest Steve come out and see that something has been left out of place. “Chef Steve sent me out to tell you we’ll eat in about twenty minutes. Do whatever you can and then you can have an early night, okay?”

Grace nods and returns her attention to the books in front of her. Danny watches for another few moments before returning inside to make sure nobody has set any small fires in the kitchen. Nobody being Steve. 

The distraction must be catching because a couple of minutes later, Steve has to literally snap his fingers in front of Danny’s face to get his attention. 

“What?” the detective returns from his space out. 

“Pass the colander?” Steve nods to the holey metal bowl beside the sink, holding the steaming pot of pasta held in his oven-mitted hants. 

Danny obliges, even going so far as to hold it steady rather an sit it in the sink. Of course, he leans back to keep the steam off his hair. When they’re done, Steve sets the hot saucepan in the large sink and rests the colander in it to finish draining the spaghetti. 

“You okay, Danny?” he asks.

“Me?” he frowns, drying his hands on the towel by the sink. “I’m fine. Grace is acting weird though.”

“Maybe she’s thinking about what happened this afternoon,” Steve suggests taking a teaspoon from the drawer and tasting the sauce before adding a touch more salt. “Staff Sergeant Higgs was pretty loud and the windows were open.”

“I…” Danny frowns. “I hadn’t even thought that they would have overheard,” he admits, deflating. “Well that’s just great.” 

“The food will keep until later if you want to go talk to her.”

“Nah,” Danny shakes his head. “She’s doing some homework and she needs to eat.”

“Do you think she’ll bring it up?”

Danny shrugs. “Maybe. She usually stews for a bit while she works things through in her head. She’ll come to me when she’s ready.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” Steve prods gently, resting the spoon by the stove and coming to sit on the stool beside Danny. 

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, are _you_ okay, Danny?”

Danny shrugs again. “ I should be asking you that, Babe. You’re the one who arrested him, you’re the one who has to decide if he’s going to court martial or not. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Alright,” Steve knows not to push too hard or Danny will take the conversation off on a tangent that he’ll never come back from. “Just don’t stew, okay? We were attacked today. Maybe not with guns, and I know we’ve faced way worse stuff in the field but…”

“I get it,” Danny assures him. “I’m alright though. I promise.”

“Okay then,” Steve stands and goes to check the sauce again, deciding it is done. “You want to go get her while I dish up?”

Danny nods and heads back out to get his daughter. He only hopes that he’s right and that the time to herself and a belly full of good food will bring her out of her shell enough to talk to him. He hates the thought that Grace, or any of the girls, heard the vile, hateful words Higgs threw around today and doesn’t want it weighing his precious monkey down. 

 

* * * 

 

Danny enters the kitchen just as Steve finishes drying the last plate. Even when the three of them are there dirtying the place up, the man still refuses to use the dishwasher, insisting that it is just as fast for him to do it by hand. He also insists that nobody help him and Danny decided long ago to let the anal retentive freak have his way, because hey, he gets out of washing up. 

Steve hangs the dish towel over the windowsill behind the sink, the warm evening air will have it dry before they lock up for the night. He waits for Danny to say something, looking at his partner expectantly when he doesn’t. 

“Well?” he presses. “What’d she say?”

Danny shrugs. “She’s in the shower.”

“Still?”

Danny’s raised eyebrow stops any further protest. “She’s thinking things through in there, I’d put money on it.”

“So, she’s hiding.”

“Pretty much,” Danny nods, stepping out into the laundry for a moment and coming back in with an old but clean towel. “But she can’t stay in there forever.”

“You could bring it up when you’ve checked her spelling words with her,” Steve suggests as he follows Danny out of the kitchen and into his bedroom. He aims for offhand in his tone. “Tuck her in and tell her that she can talk to you about anything.”

“Wow,” Danny pauses, halfway through arranging the clean towel on the floor where ‘Uke likes to sleep. 

“What?” the tips of his ears redden a little. “Too sappy?”

“No,” Danny shakes his head. “Too much exactly like what I was planning to do.” And he absolutely doesn’t let himself think about how Steve knows his nightly routine with Grace and that she has spelling on Tuesdays when most classes would do it on Friday. 

“We’re a team,” Steve shrugs. “Oh hey,” he points upwards. “Shower’s stopped.”

Danny rubs his palms on his pants and claps his hands together. “I’ll give her a few minutes to get ready for bed then send ‘Uke down so you can take him out, okay?”

Steve nods, agreeing with the plan. He wants to say good luck but it doesn’t seem right. Instead he settles for, “Lemme know if you need anything,” and is satisfied with Danny’s returned nod.


	31. Chapter 31

When he reaches the landing, Danny calls out for ‘Uke and the dragon soon comes trotting out of Grace’s room. “Find Steve,” he tells the animal and it continues down the stairs. Danny knocks lightly on Grace’s open door and steps inside. The room is empty but the door to the adjoining bathroom is open, letting wafts of steam escape. 

“Grace?” 

“In here,” she answers and Danny follows the sound of her voice into the ensuite. 

“Hey,” he smiles at his daughter. 

She’s bundled up in her winter pyjamas with a towel draped across her shoulders, brushing her long hair, a patch of steam rubbed off the centre of the mirror so she can see what she’s doing. Long gone are the days when she needed her parents to do her hair for her but sometimes she lets her mom or dad take care of it. 

“Can I?” Danny asks, taking the brush from her hand when she holds it over her shoulder. He pulls it gently through her hair in long strokes, starting from the crown and working the knots to the ends and out. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened today?” he asks.

Grace shrugs. 

Danny decides to press on. “I only ask because I’m pretty sure you overheard some of the things that Lisa’s dad was shouting and I don’t want you to worry.”

“I’m not worried,” Grace says softly, frowning at the faucets to avoid making eye contact with her father in the mirror.

“But?” he presses. 

“It’s nothing,” she turns and presses a kiss to Danny’s cheek. “I’m going to go to sleep now. Thanks for brushing my hair.”

Danny sighs and places the brush gently on the counter. The math skills she might have gotten from her mother but the stubborn? That’s all him. “Grace,” he waits for her to switch on the bedside lamp before turning off the bright overhead. “We can see that something is bothering you.”

“We?”

“Me and Steve,” he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Actually, it was him that wondered if what happened at troop today is what has you upset.”

“Oh.”

“So,” Danny perches on the edge of Grace’s bed, crossing one leg under the other so he can face her properly, “Is it?”

Grace shrugs again. “I don’t really know, okay?”

“Well, is there anything you want to ask?” He assumes that by age twelve Grace would have, unfortunately, heard the particular insults that were slung around today. God he hates the whole world sometimes. 

Grace mumbles something and again tries her hardest to avoid meeting Danny’s face. 

“What?” 

“I just want to know if it’s true,” she huffs, this time glaring squarely at her father. 

“If what’s true, Monkey?”

“What he said. About you. And Uncle Steve.” She picks awkwardly at the pattern on the comforter while she waits for an answer. 

She hasn’t really called Steve ‘Uncle’ for months now and it sounds strange and distant to his ears. Danny realises that Grace isn’t hurt by the accusations but by the possibility that she’s been lied to, albeit by omission. 

“No, it’s not.”

“Then the two of you aren’t…” She can’t find the right words to ask. That’s if there even _are_ any right words to use to ask your dad if he’s actually in a relationship with his best, male, friend. 

“We aren’t together, no.” _But this is our dragon_ a distinctly Steveish voice adds in his mind, making him chuckle. 

“What’s funny about that?” Grace frowns. 

“Nothing. Just,” He laughs again. “Can you imagine? We’d kill each other inside of a week!” He expects Grace to laugh with him but she shakes her head. 

“It isn’t funny,” she insists. 

Danny controls himself. “No, I don’t suppose it is.” 

“So you just don’t care that people call you… things like that? You’re just going to laugh about it?”

“Oh hell, no. Lisa’s dad is in lots of trouble. He’ll probably have some kind of military discipline. Steve hasn’t decided yet but believe me, kiddo, we’re not laughing.”

“So, why don’t you say something? Tell people that Steve is just your friend and they need to mind their own business.”

This gives Danny pause. They really haven’t ever done much to quash the rumours, besides correcting people with the whole dragon thing. And the idea of Steve being ‘just’ anything seems foreign and wrong. “I guess,” he frowns, “Because, like you say, it’s not really their business.” 

“But people think something that isn’t true,” she insists. 

“So?” Danny realises that other than the inconvenience of having to explain their strange ohana, several times over, he really isn’t offended that people must have been thinking that he is bisexual. “People think all sorts of things about other people and half of it isn’t true. I’m old enough not to care anymore.”

“Oh.”

Danny frowns, wondering for the first time in his daughter’s young life just what she knows about the more unconventional side to adult relationships. Sure she comes from a blended family with a stepdad and Danny knows that he himself has had his share of girlfriends these past couple of years. He’s curious to know what she’s picked up, from society in general and God forbid that loud-mouthed little weasel face, Tommy, at school. 

“Grace?” he waits for her to look up at him before continuing. “Monkey, do you care?”

“No,” she shrugs. “I guess not.”

“Because it’s okay if it is confusing or makes you have lots of questions.” Danny swallows. “I know that when your mom and me talked to you about boys and babies and all that stuff, we didn’t really go into what happens if two men or two women fall in love.”

“Well, they can’t have babies without help,” Grace shrugs. “But that’s okay, right? You don’t have to have a baby just because you’re in love. Or get married at all. Great Aunt Emmeline never loved anyone and she didn’t have any kids.”

Great Aunt Emmeline, actually _Danny’s_ Great Aunt had in fact ‘had someone’, the family just didn’t really talk about it on account of how broken she became. “Actually, Grace, she did.”

“Really?” her eyebrows raise, curiosity piqued. “Was it a lady someone?”

Danny nods, a little proud with how quickly his daughter catches on. “Yes it was. Although that really has no bearing on her story, it could just as easily have been a man someone and she would have been sad just the same. Aunt Emmeline’s, well these days we would say partner, was a nurse in World War II and the hospital ship she served on was sunk by the enemy.”

“Oh, that’s sad,” Grace crawls out from under the covers and into her father’s lap, all gangly legs and arms and not quite fitting like she used too. Danny doesn’t care, he holds her tight. 

“Yeah, Babe. It is. She never really talked about it and she never found anyone else to make her happy. Your Grandma told me once after I said that Emmeline was mean and grumpy and no wonder nobody ever wanted to marry her.”

“Danno! That’s mean!”

“I was ten,” he shrugs. “And she wouldn’t let me bring my dog in the house when she came to visit us.”

They sit there for a few minutes, Danny enjoying the closeness and relief that Grace doesn’t seem to be too worried about the rumours flying around. 

Grace seems lost in her thoughts until she looks up and smiles at her dad. “I’m glad Steve didn’t die in his war.”

“So am I, Grace,” he squeezes her. 

“Coz then we wouldn’t live on the beach and we wouldn’t have ‘Uke and you’d still be grumpy all the time.”

“I.. Hey!” Danny protests. “I think it’s time for you to go to sleep, young lady,” he pouts.

Grace pokes out her tongue and wriggles back under the covers. “You know it’s true,” she says surely, rolling over to face the wall which Danny takes as his cue to leave her be. “I believe you if you say that you and Steve aren’t boyfriends but we love him and we are a family and I know it’s kind of weird, but I like it.”

Danny turns out the light. “Me too, Monkey,” he smiles. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Grace mumbles back and he closes the door. 

Danny wanders back down the stairs and through the quiet house, finding Steve sitting in one of the chairs down by the water. He’s scratching idly at ‘Uke’s ear with one hand and holding a half-drunk beer in the other. Another, full, bottle sits waiting on the table next to him. 

Danny leans against the post of the lanai and just watches for a minute. He wonders if Grace is right, if Steve is in fact the second chance that his Great Aunt never let herself have. The thing is though, he doesn’t think that it’s fair to put all that on Steve. Deep down, Danny knows that one day the other man will probably want to settle down and maybe have a kid. Not right away but they’re fast approaching forty and it changes your view on things. Changes your priorities. Danny knows that when the time comes, he won’t hold Steve back. Until then though…

“It’s creepy when you lurk like that, Daniel,” Steve says just loud enough to be heard across the grass. “And I’m going to drink your beer if you don’t get your ass over here in the next thirty seconds.”

“You wouldn’t,” Danny pushes off the pole and makes his way over, picking up the pace when Steve reaches for the bottle. “Hey!” he gets there and snatches it away just as it brushes against Steve’s lips. Sinking into his chair, he takes a long draw. 

Steve chuckles and waits for ‘Uke to reposition himself between the two of them before resuming the scratching.

_Yeah,_ Danny thinks. _This will definitely do for now._


	32. Chapter 32

The next morning, it is like a cloud has lifted off of the three of them and they go about their usual school day routine as if the previous evening hadn’t happened. Grace chooses the cereal for her and Steve while he pours the mugs of coffee and juice. Right on cue, Danny appears through the door and snatches his precious monkey mug from the counter. 

“You got all your books?” he asks after the first, blissful mouthful. “‘Coz I don’t want another phone call from your mother asking me why half of your assignment is missing. Believe me, young lady, ‘My dragon ate my homework,” isn’t going to fly.”

“Well, he’s more likely to set it on fire,” Steve grins, earning himself a swat on the arm and a scowl. 

Grace rolls her eyes. “Yes, I have everything.”

“Good,” Danny nods. “Because after last time,” he shudders, leaving the rest unsaid. 

“It wasn’t that bad, Danny.”

“You,” he points at his partner, “Stay out of this.”

Grace laughs before finishing the last few spoonfuls of her cereal and taking the bowl to the sink. “I’ll go and get my bag, okay?” She scampers off before anyone can answer.

Steve rinses his own bowl, and Grace’s and puts them in the dishwasher. When he hears her footsteps reach the landing, he turns to Danny. 

“She okay?” he asks conspiratorially, rounding the counter to lean next to Danny. “She seems okay.”

Danny nods. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, she wasn’t. But we had a good talk and straightened a few things out.” Danny pauses, wondering just how much Steve needs to know. He figures Steve has stuck with things this far, dragon, rumour and all so he deserves to know what was upsetting the third member of the household. “She did hear. But she wasn’t upset about _what_ she heard specifically.”

“Huh?”

“She was upset because she thought it was true.”

“Oh,” Steve exhales slowly. “Well, yeah I guess that’s enough to get any kid confused.”

“She wasn’t confused so much as angry, and I think a little bit hurt, that we hadn’t told her we were together.”

Steve coughs. “That _what_?”

“Don’t worry,” Danny pats him on the shoulder. “I explained everything to her and she’s fine, okay?” 

Steve nods dumbly. “Okay. I mean, I can see why she’d think that. Everyone else seems to. I guess I hadn’t thought that Grace might too.”

“Me either, Babe,” Danny assures him. “How ‘bout you?” he runs the pad of his thumb gently over the bruise Higgs left on Steve’s cheek bone. “You put the ice on again in the night?”

“Yeah. Twice.”

“Okay, good,” Danny slides off the stool and takes his mug to the sink. “That’s good. It’s a very pretty shade of purple today.”

“I’d better not let Grace see then, she might want to repaint her room again.”

“Hey!”

The men turn and see the subject of their teasing scowling at them from the kitchen doorway. 

“That happened _once_ ,” she defends. 

“Such a pretty color,” Danny grins, sidestepping Steve’s swat from the dish towel and dropping his arm across Grace’s shoulders. “C’mon, Monkey. Let’s get you to school.”

* * *  
“Danny!” Steve’s shout rings through the Five-0 offices loud enough that it brings the other team members running. 

“You know,” Danny grouses to Kono as they approach the doorway. “We only reinforce this yelling every time we let it work.”

“Been watching The Dog Whisperer again?” Kono teases. 

“Maybe,” he grins. “But so far he hasn’t offered much advice on how to stop the dog from flying.”

Kono laughs as she ducks through the door, sliding in by the desk, next to Chin. Steve is standing on the other side of it, hands pressed on the tabletop, frowning at the landline phone.

“We’re all here, Sir,” Steve nods curtly to the chairs and Kono and Chin sit. Danny mouths ‘ _governor?_ and when Steve’s eye twitches, he rounds the desk to stand with his partner. 

_“I’ll get straight to the point then,”_ Governor Denning’s voice comes through the speaker. _"The state’s counsel just left my office and I have been advised that at this point, there is no environmental law which prohibits a dragon.”_

“There’s a surprise,” Danny lets slip with his usual sarcasm. He looks apologetic under Steve’s heated glare. 

_”Ah, Detective Williams,”_ Denning sighs. _"I hate to say this but the specific nature of Hawaii’s laws, put in place to protect the native flora and fauna, have been made so specific that your... pet... appears to be quite outside the system. So really, it fits right in with Five-0.”_

“So, we can keep him?” Danny asks hopefully, leaning towards the phone and placing his hand over top of one of Steve’s. He squeezes tight and can feel the tension radiating through even that small area of Steve.

_”Conditionally. There will be paperwork,”_ Denning warns. _"And the additional insurance premium to cover any damage is coming out of the Five-0 budget.”_

“Governor,” Chin frowns. “I’m curious why this is all being tied to Five-0. ‘Uke is Danny and Steve’s personal pet.” Kono glares at him and makes chopping motions across her neck.  
“I’m not complaining,” he hurries to add. “Just trying to be clear.”

_”The lawyers suggested that this would allow greater control over the situation should anything… happen.”_

Steve frowns. 

“Hey, what?” Danny asks softly, pulling Steve by the elbow away from the table a couple of steps. “What’s wrong.”

“Nothing.”

“Steven,” Danny drops his voice. “Talk,” he demands, unswayed by his partner’s pout. 

Steve mumbles something too quietly for even Danny to hear, as closely as he is standing. 

“What?”

“He’s _ours_ , Danny,” Steve hisses. “They’re going to try and make him the state’s. It’s as good as taking him all together.”

_“Commander McGarrett,”_ Denning interrupts. 

“I’m sorry, Governor,” Steve steps back to the table and looms over the phone. “But I’m afraid that this is not going to be good enough and…”

_“Steve!”_ the governor snaps. 

“Hear him out, Babe,” Danny leans back in, pressed side to side with Steve. 

_“Thank you, Detective. As I was saying, the animal will be added to the Five-0 insurance and the state’s counsel has drawn up forms to add to the database to cover any incidents that may occur. The dragon remains in your custody and as soon as you forward my office the tracking numbers for the GPS you had fitted, he will be legally registered in your name.”_

“Oh,” Steve looks sheepishly at his team. “Uh…”

_“I must warn you though, this is provisional. We will revisit in three months and make a final decision then.”_

Steve sighs. “That sounds fair,” he has to admit. If it wasn’t him with the emotional attachment to the exotic potential pest, he’d make the same demands. “I’ll email the numbers now.”

_“Very good. I’ll have my office schedule a press conference for the next couple of days and contact you with the details.”_

The call ends and the team remain still for a few moments, staring at the silent phone. 

“So,” Kono finally breaks. “BBQ at your place to celebrate?” she asks, Steve and Danny nodding. 

“Sounds good,” Steve frowns, thinking. “We’re pretty cleaned out after having the troop over on the weekend. Can you guys stop by the store on the way?”

“You’re letting someone else grocery shop for you?” Danny asks in disbelief. 

Steve nods. “Call Rachel and ask if Grace can come for dinner. We’ll pick her up. Hell, invite Rachel too if you want,” Steve grins.

“Oh God, please don’t break out into a ‘we get to keep our dragon’ dance,” Danny groans. “I don’t think I can handle that.”

“Uh, guys?” Chin interrupts. “Anything in particular you want us to get?”

“Beer,” Steve exclaims. “Danno?”

“Marshmallows,” he laughs. “Lots of them!”


	33. Chapter 33

Grace is, of course, uncontrollably excited when they call with the news about ‘Uke. The volume and pitch of her squealing leaves Danny’s ear ringing for a full minute afterwards and he regrets not putting the call through the car’s speaker system. At least then Steve would be suffering too. 

When they reach the house, the first thing they do is let ‘Uke out into the back yard, realising that the hiding is so very close to over. After the press conference, hopefully tomorrow, they can focus on keeping the dragon instead of keeping secrets. Steve grins like all his Christmases have come at once while he stands and watches _his_ dragon play in the garden.

“What’s with you, huh?” Danny hands Steve a glass of cold water and they sit on the chairs in the shade. Danny props his feet on the undersupports of the table and rocks back comfortably. “You’re smiling like you just won the lottery.”

“I’m not allowed to be happy?” Steve raises an eyebrow.

Danny raises his hands in defense. “It’s a good look on you, Babe. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Danny smiles. “I like seeing you like this. Smiling. And not because you’re appreciating the way you were able to perfectly execute a controlled explosion.”

“So you admit that I am in control when I do those things?”

“ _That’s_ what you hear out of that? Really?” Danny snorts.

Steve shakes his head. “No, I heard the other stuff too. And I am happy.”

“Me too,” Danny takes a long sip of the cool water, frowning slightly. “I’ll be happier when it’s permanent not probationary.”

“It’s only three months,” Steve sighs. “We’ve just got to keep him under control and make sure he doesn’t destroy any property before the governor signs off on him.”

“Steven, I can’t even keep a SEAL under control most days, how do you expect me to be able to manage a dragon?”

“Because it’s not just you, Daniel,” Steve reminds him. “We’re in this together, remember?”

“Yeah. Well if it all blows up in our faces, I’m telling everyone it was your idea and skipping the country with my daughter.”

“I could find you.”

“Oh yeah,” Danny teases. “You and what army?”

Steve frowns. “You know, I can’t tell if that was just you using a common phrase or an underhanded dig.”

“You’re going soft,” Danny agrees. “Soft and mushy. Speaking of mushy,” he checks his watch, “Chin and Kono won’t be here for an hour. You can get a swim in if you want.”

“Mushy? That’s your segue?” 

“Well, yeah?” Danny shrugs. “They’re bringing me…”

“Marshmallows. Of course,” Steve places his glass on the table and laughs. “You know, we really need to get you some help for that. I’ve never seen a person who likes them so much.”

“Uh, hello?” Danny points at ‘Uke who is stalking a crab across the narrow strip of sand. 

“I said _person_ , Danny.” Steve unclips his badge and holster from his pants and places them on the table beside the empty glass. “Lock these up when you do yours?” 

“Sure,” Danny frowns, confused. 

“Thanks,” Steve grins and pulls of his shirt and loosens his belt before dropping his cargos and stepping out of them, leaving him in nothing but dark blue boxer briefs. “A swim sounds like a great idea. See you in a bit.”

With that, he jogs across the grass and meets ‘Uke at the shore. Steve bends down to rub the dragon’s belly and says something that Danny can’t hear. ‘Uke tilts his head and watches as Steve bounds into the surf but, surprisingly, turns and plods back up to Danny when Steve dives under. 

Danny chuckles to himself, shaking his head as he gathers the glasses and Steve’s badge and holster. His exhibitionist of a partner really needs to learn to give a man some warning when he’s going to do that. 

“No wonder people think we’re a couple,” Danny says to the dragon. “He’s got no self control.”

‘Uke huffs.

“Oh, you’re no better, buddy,” he reaches over and rubs the animal on the nose. “You have the self control of a hyperactive border collie.”

‘Uke coos and leans into Danny’s touch, clearly enjoying it. Whoever decided that reptiles mostly just tolerated human contact had obviously never met a dragon. Which, Danny supposes, is probably for the best. 

“You want to go for a swim, huh?” he asks, stopping the rubbing to tap the animal on the rump. “You can go, I’ll be okay here. Someone has to pick up around here or people will arrive, see his clothes and think he went all Forest Gump on us and decided to swim to China just because he can.” Danny lets out a put-upon sigh. “Idiot. I’m tired of seeing his half naked body parading about.” Even as he says it, he knows that it’s more and more of a lie.

‘Uke looks out at the water, Steve’s splashes almost to the floating marker which warns small pleasure craft where the rocky bottom starts. 

“Go on, go find Steve,” Danny uses the command words but in a conversational tone, curious to see if the dragon will take it as an order or a choice. ‘Uke looks back at Danny then to the water again. He presses his nose into Danny’s shoulder and rubs his head back and forth a few times before turning and half running, half flapping across the grass. When he reaches the foot high drop off to the sand, ‘Uke stretches his wings out fully and leaps, gliding low across the beach and over the water. After a few flaps, he’s caught up with Steve and Danny watches as he tucks his wings in close to his body and drops into the water beside his human friend. 

This, Danny decides, is something he will never get tired of seeing. 

* * * 

The light from the fire, conveniently lit by their dragon, flickers across Steve’s face and he looks around the circle of people gathered on the sand. He leans back on one elbow and thinks to himself that after half a life travelling the world, this must be what home feels like. The strong connection he felt growing up, to the house and to Hawaii, that went away after he lost his family and was sent to military school. His return three years ago and the assembling of Five-0 brought it back and he knows now that it is really these people that make a place what is is. 

“Yo, Earth to Steve?” Danny clicks his fingers in front of Steve’s face, pulling him from his thoughts. “You want to go get the marshmallows?”

“Huh?” 

“Grace wants to roast some,” Danny explains.

Steve laughs. “Grace wants to. Yeah. Sure.” He stands and stretches, brushing the sand off his pants and shaking off his feet. “Two bags?”

Grace nods enthusiastically and when he turns back to the house, Steve is met by ‘Uke, sitting on the grass with a stick in his mouth. 

“Two bags it is,” he chuckles, petting the dragon on the head as he passes. 

When he returns a few minutes later, he’s pounced on by Danny and Grace who immediately open a bag each and start to put the squishy treats onto sticks. 

“Where’d ‘Uke go?” Steve asks, looking beyond the light of the fire as he sits back down but he can’t see the dragon in the darkness. 

Just then, there is a rustling from the bushes that border the property and ‘Uke clomps out from behind a heliconia. As he makes his way back into the light, his disappearance becomes clear. In his mouth is held a long stick, about three feet from end to end. He drops it at Danny’s feet and tilts his head, waiting. 

Steve sighs and stands, again brushing himself off.  
“Where’re you going?” Kono asks, muffled around a mouthful of marshmallow. She prefers them cold and has already snagged herself a handful.

“We’re going to need another packet,” he tries to scowl at the dragon but fails in the face of his resourcefulness. And the cuteness of him holding it against Danny’s leg while Grace squeezes on the eighth marshmallow. 

‘Uke looks down at the stick, cross eyed, and lets go of it, leaving it balanced on Danny’s thigh. With a quick flick of his tongue, he wraps the tip around the marshmallow closest to his mouth and pulls until it splits and falls into his mouth, swallowing the two halves at once. The dragon looks genuinely confused when everyone laughs at him and Steve shakes his head while he makes his way back inside for the third bag. 

“ _Yup,_ ” he thinks to himself. _”Definitely the people that make this place home.”_


End file.
